Project

Biopolymer coacervates for edible food coatings and packaging materials

Bio-based materials are promising substitutes for single-use food packaging plastics which are raising growing environmental concern. Their performance however (e.g. barriers against oxygen and moisture, prevention of bacterial contamination), is still lagging behind and new approaches are needed to bring their performance to the same level as traditional materials. Here a sustainable approach – using “biopolymer coacervates” to fabricate edible coatings and food packaging materials with enhanced performance is proposed. In this study, films and coatings obtained by drying different biopolymer coacervates and those filled with nanoemulsions of hydrophobic plasticizers will be fabricated and characterized. These hydrophobic plasticizers include various plant-based oil such as natural oil and naturally pre-emulsified oil. This approach is expected to provide a green and sustainable alternative to improve the performance of bio-based edible packaging materials.