Development of a biobased, biodegradable, bioactive food packaging

约50%的塑料用于食品包装（100万吨/年）。多年来，塑料产生的废物一直是一个紧迫的问题，因为它们具有抗降解性。此外，传统塑料的生产比生物基聚合物多消耗65%的能源，并排放30-80%的温室气体。人们还认识到，水果和蔬菜总产量的30%以上损失。最后，66%的食品损失是由包装缺陷造成的。目前迫切需要用生物可降解包装膜（BBPF）替代塑料包装。由于自然、物理、化学和生物过程（例如：发酵），BBPF在环境中降解，并且它们模仿常规聚合物的特性。到目前为止，还没有商业包装系统满足3个条件：生物基，可生物降解和生物活性。含有天然抗菌提取物（NAEs）和银纳米颗粒的生物活性BBPF代表了一种非常创新的方法，可以改善食品质量，保护它们免受微生物污染，增加它们的储存时间，减少食品损失，同时解决食品包装的寿命终止问题。具有生物活性的BBPF还可以提高食品的质量。 本项目的目标是开发一种生物活性BBPF，将（NAEs）和银纳米颗粒作为具有改善功能特性的抗菌剂和抗氧化剂。在2020年，全球食品和包装市场必须通过资源管理实施循环经济战略。此外，消费者对更健康食品的需求以及BBPF和NAE的使用是促进大学研究实验室和主角行业之间这种伙伴关系的重要社会标准。

Around 50% of plastics are used for food packaging (1 million tons/year). Waste generated by plastics has been an urgent problem for many years because of their resistance to degradation. In addition, the production of conventional plastics consumes 65% more energy, and emits 30-80% higher greenhouse gases than bio-based polymers. It is also recognized that more than 30% of the total production of fruit and vegetable is lost. Finally, 66% of food losses are caused by faulty packaging. There is an urgent need to replace plastic packaging by biosourced biodegradable packaging film (BBPF). BBPF are degraded in the environment due to natural, physical, chemical, and biological processes (eg: fermentation) and they mimic the properties of conventional polymers. Until now, there is no commercial packaging system that meets 3 conditions: bio-based, biodegradable and bio-active. Bioactive BBPF containing natural antimicrobial extracts (NAEs) and silver nanoparticles represents a very innovative method to improve the food quality, protect them against microbial contamination, increase their storage time, reduce food losses while solving the end-of-life problem of food packaging. Bioactive BBPF can also improve the quality of the food. The goal of this project is to develop a bioactive BBPF incorporating (NAEs) and silver nanoparticles as antimicrobial and antioxidant agents with improved functional properties. In the 2020's, the global food and packaging markets have to be implemented into circular economy strategies via the management of resources. Moreover, consumer demands for healthier food and the use of BBPF and NAEs is an important societal criterion to promote such a partnership between university research laboratories and protagonist industries.