Starch Based Bio-nanocomposites : Modern and Benign Materials in Food Packaging Industry

Abstract

As we know, nowadays there is a drastic shift going on in various industries especially “food packaging industry” to contribute for sustainable development by changing their methods. There are some requirements like recyclability, consumer acceptability, nontoxicity, antimicrobial property, antioxidant property, and flexibility which are important to maintain our environment safe and ensure the safety and better quality of food and are discussed in this chapter. Conventionally, food is packed in petroleum-based plastic, but due to its nonrenewable aspect, it has proved to be hazardous for the ecosystem. So, the food packaging industry is now trying to shift to various methods that are eco-friendly and promote sustainable development. These methods mainly focus on maintaining our environment’s safety and ensuring the quality of the food packaged. As a result, scientists moved on to a new avenue, which is biopolymers for food packaging. Biopolymers play an important role in making our ecosystem safe. Numerous sources can be used in the production of biopolymers such as biodegradable films that include polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids. Among polysaccharides, starch due to its low cost and abundance in nature is of significant importance. Starch has various advantages that are helpful as food packaging material such as low thickness, flexibility, and transparency. But these show some drawbacks too, such as the poor mechanical properties and water vapor permeability. The following chapter focuses on the modification of starch film with various nanocomposites to increase the efficiency of starch film and also highlights the current advances in the applications as well as future perspectives of starch-based bio-nanocomposites for food packaging.