Abstract
Quality and safety, both in objective product characteristics and subjective consumer perception terms, are essential factors for the success of any food product. Food packaging is concerned with preserving and protecting all types of foods and their raw materials, mainly from microbial spoilage, and extending their shelf-life. Therefore, increasing the use of packaging materials, especially synthetic packaging for their excellent gas and liquid barrier characteristics, has led to severe ecological problems due to their total non-biodegradability. One of the synthetic materials produced in different types and applications is plastic composition, e.g. plastic packaging films. Some efforts and awareness by environmentalists about the bio-pollution of polymers and the importance of their safety introduce new consumption patterns that include packaging products with biodegradable materials. Another group is films that destroy entirely in the environment, which is named edible biodegradable film. Among the critical factors related to the chemical nature of the packaging film, water vapor permeability, water solubility, and other factors that vary depending on the chemical nature. For example, compared to polysaccharides and lipids, proteins have some advantages, such as relative abundance, good film-forming ability, and high nutritional value, which make proteins be used extensively for preparing biodegradable packaging films like whey protein-based, zein-based, and gelatin-based films. However, thermal methods have destructive and irreversible effects on the structure of food or even food packaging materials. Cold plasma technology has proven effective as an alternative technique for food and packaging films decontamination, enzyme inactivation, toxin removal, food packaging modiļ¬cations, and wastewater treatment.
Presenters
Sima TahmouziStudent, Master of Science, Shahid Sadughi University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Edible Food Packaging, Cold Atmospheric Plasma, Protein-based Food Packaging
