Development of a biobased, biodegradable, bioactive food packaging

约50%的塑料用于食品包装(100万吨/年)。塑料产生的废物多年来一直是一个紧迫的问题，因为它们不能降解。此外，传统塑料的生产比生物聚合物多消耗65%的能源，排放高出30%-80%的温室气体。人们还认识到，水果和蔬菜总产量损失了30%以上。最后，66%的食品损失是由包装错误造成的。用生物源可降解包装膜(BBPF)取代塑料包装已迫在眉睫。BBPF在环境中通过自然、物理、化学和生物过程(如发酵)降解，它们模仿传统聚合物的性质。到目前为止，还没有一种商业包装系统能满足三个条件：生物基、可生物降解和生物活性。含有天然抗菌提取物(NAE)和银纳米颗粒的生物活性BBPF是一种非常创新的方法，可以提高食品质量，保护它们免受微生物污染，延长它们的储存时间，减少食品损失，同时解决食品包装的报废问题。生物活性BBPF还可以改善食品的质量。本项目的目标是开发一种生物活性的BBPF，将(NAES)和银纳米颗粒作为抗菌和抗氧化剂，具有更好的功能特性。2020年，S，全球食品包装市场要通过资源管理落实到循环经济战略中。此外，消费者对更健康食品的需求以及对BBPF和NAE的使用是促进大学研究实验室和主要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.