Materials and technologies – November 2022

Extension of food shelf life
UNBC scientists are creating plant-based solutions to replace oil-based products in the packaging of seafood. They are providing a cheap plant-based foam as an alternative for Styrofoam to provide fresh fish transport.
All About Feed reports that researchers from Ryazan Polytechnical University have developed a technology for packaging animal feed in containers with CO₂ instead of oxygen. This technique can halt the growth of dangerous microflora and fauna and slows down or completely stops spoilage processes The research (833 kB) is published in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science.

Plants to plastic
AIMPLAS is developing bioplastics from trees and shrubs as a part of the EU BeoNAT project. They will produce PLA from fermentable sugars in the biomass to produce packaging for the cosmetic industry.
Students at Pratt University examined the potential of organic waste to generate biobased materials for packaging. They created biopolymers from the food waste with excellent tensile strength, flexibility and texture and will continue to move their product beyond the experimental stage.
Researchers at MSU School of Packaging have published a critical review (19.07 MB) on the biodegradability of biobased polymers in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

Coatings for paper packaging
Flinders University scientists are developing biobased coating materials from seaweed for grease-resistant fast food packaging. The biomass for the coating is made from natural polymers extracted from seaweed. The new coating does not affect biodegradability nor the recyclability of the paper.
Researchers from MSU School of Packaging have received a grant to develop high-barrier biodegradable paper. The goal is to design biodegradable paper which can be converted into compost under controlled conditions. It can be used as single-use food packaging since the paper is dual-layer, so it offers water and oil resistance and other barrier properties.

Effect of packaging materials on food flavour and post-harvest life
Scientists from North Carolina State University and Clemson University addressed the effect of packaging materials on milk flavour. They found that glass remains the ideal barrier to maintain milk flavour and milk packaged in paperboard cartons and LLDPE had distinct stale flavours. The research (1.05 MB) is published in the Journal of Dairy Science.
Scientists of Tribhuvan University found that packing mandarins in plastic is best for reducing weight loss and maintaining the amount of juice recovered compared to other packaging materials. The research (1.35 MB) is published in Reviews in Food and Agriculture.

NVC Chair Packaging Design and Management - research
On 3 November 2022, Casper Kroon held a speech entitled ‘Assessing existing and upcoming barrier materials for aluminium-free beverage cartons of FrieslandCampina’ and a week later Maarten van Domselaar held a speech entitled ‘Providing guidance to FrieslandCampina on the road towards 100% circularity in 2050’. Both speeches were part of their master assignment at University of Twente. Chairman of the assessment committee was prof. Roland ten Klooster who holds the NVC Chair Packaging Design and Management.
 

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