Abstract
Paper and board show many advantages as packaging materials, but the current technologies employed to obtain adequate barrier properties for food packaging use synthetic polymers coating and lamination with plastic or aluminium foils—treatments which have a negative impact on packaging sustainability, poor recyclability and lack of biodegradability. Recently, biopolymers have attracted increased attention as paper coatings, which can provide new combinations in composite formulas to meet the requirements of food packaging. The number of studies on biopolymers for developing barrier properties of packaging materials is increasing, but only a few of them are addressed to food packaging paper. Polysaccharides are viewed as the main candidates to substitute oil-based polymers in food paper coating, due to their film forming ability, good affinity for paper substrate, appropriate barrier to gases and aroma, and positive effect on mechanical strength. Additionally, these biopolymers are biodegradable, non-toxic and act as a matrix for incorporation additives with specific functionalities for coated paper (i.e., active-antimicrobial properties). This paper presents an overview on the availability and application of polysaccharides from vegetal and marine biomass in coatings for foods packaging paper. The extraction methods, chemical modification and combination routes of these biopolymers in coatings for paper packaging are discussed.
Highlights
Food packaging coatings are very important, as they provide a physical protection barrier for food products during storage and transportation, maintain food safety in a way that satisfies industry requirements and consumer desires, and minimize environmental impact by reducing food waste.Paper based materials have been used for packaging of fluids and greasy foods since the 1880s.During the 1970s–1980s, when plastics were introduced into food packaging, paper-based materials lost their importance, being replaced in many uses
At the end of 19th century, several technologies were developed for food packaging paper with good barriers against the grease and gases, such as: greaseproof and glassine paper based on intensive mechanical treatments of cellulose fibers, and parchment paper made by running paper through a sulphuric acid bath
The results demonstrate the feasibility of hemicellulose, which acts as a plasticizer in nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) films and their potential application for the preparation of bioinspired nanocomposite films for food packaging [102]
Summary
Food packaging coatings are very important, as they provide a physical protection barrier for food products during storage and transportation, maintain food safety in a way that satisfies industry requirements and consumer desires, and minimize environmental impact by reducing food waste. The attention on environmentally friendly alternatives prompted the food packaging industry to search for an alternative reliable and sustainable coating product, both for support materials and for polymeric ones. At the end of 19th century, several technologies were developed for food packaging paper with good barriers against the grease and gases, such as: greaseproof and glassine paper based on intensive mechanical treatments of cellulose fibers, and parchment paper made by running paper through a sulphuric acid bath These technologies are energy-intensive and have become unsustainable with the steady increase of energy costs during the last decades. During the 20th century, different food packaging paper grades were developed based on coatings with waxes/oil-polymers and on lamination with aluminium and plastic foils These treatments have a negative impact on packaging sustainability and are based on petroleum-derived polymers, which increase the carbon footprint of the packed product and affect the recyclability and biodegradability of the used packages [3,4]. The extraction methods, chemical or physical modification routes, combination with other compounds and the environmental impact of these biopolymers when used in paper packaging coating applications are discussed
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