Page 31 - Plastics News January 2017

FEFAETAUTURRESES
Eco-friendly wrap promises fresher food
The New eco friendly and anti-bacterial packaging doubles shelf-life of perishable food, packaging
with Zinc reduces bacteria by 97%
World over scientist are working to develop new
packaging alternates . According to critics Typical
plastic packaging is mainly petroleum-based, which is not
biodegradable and also not sustainable, creating tonnes
of plastic waste that sits in landfills for years. In Hong
Kong, more than 2,000 tonnes of polystyrene, industrial
and commercial plastic is thrown out daily – one of the
highest waste-production rates per person in the world.
The New Plastics Economy report, released in January
2016 at the World Economic Forum, says global plastic
production has surged from 15 million tonnes in 1964 to
311 million tonnes in 2014, and is expected to double in
20 years as demand grows. It forecasts that there could be
more plastic than fish in the ocean (by weight) by 2050.
However , the good news is a new food wrap made
from crustacean shells and fortified with grapefruit seed
extract doubles the shelf life of perishable food, say
researchers. Thian Eng San, an associate professor at
the National University of Singapore, and PhD student
Tan Yi Min developed the material with food safety and
environmental sustainability in mind.
Covering leftovers with plastic wrap/cling film is a good
way of keeping food fresher for longer. However, they
mainly prevent spoilage by sealing everything off from
oxygen, hence have fairly limited scope. Now a new
kind of natural packaging wrap derived from the shells
of shrimp and other crustaceans could go significantly
beyond the preservation potential of today's plastic wrap.
The researchers from National University of Singapore
have spent three years developing their new composite
material, which they say can double the shelf-life of
perishable food such as bread.
The film's main constituent is chitosan, a polymer
synthesised from the exoskeletons of crustaceans.
According to the team, chitosan is an ideal material for
use in food technology applications, as it is bio-degradable films. When the chitosan-based wrap without grapefruit
and possesses an excellent film-forming ability and is also
non-toxic. Chitosan also has antimicrobial and antifungal
10
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properties, and the researchers have fortified the polymer
with grapefruit seed extract (GFSE), which is antioxidant
and possesses antiseptic, anti-bacterial and fungicidal
properties. The resulting composite is comparable in
strength and flexibility to regular food wrapping, but its
molecular makeup means it can also prevent the growth of
fungi and bacteria in foods it is used to cover. "Increasing
attention has been placed on the development of food
packaging material
with antimicrobial
and antifungal
properties, in order
to improve food
safety, extend shelf-
life and to minimise
the use of chemical
preservatives,"
said mechanical
engineer Thian Eng
San. "Consumers
are also demanding
that packaging
materials be formulated from natural materials that
are environmentally friendly and biodegradable while
improving food preservation."
This novel food packaging material is said to slow down
fungal growth, doubling the shelf life of perishable food,
such as bread. “Increasing attention has been placed
on the development of food packaging material with
antimicrobial and antifungal properties, in order to
improve food safety, extend shelf life and to minimise the
use of chemical preservatives,” says Thian.
The findings of the team and their claims have not yet
been peer-reviewed or published, but the team says
in their initial testing, the shelf-life of bread samples
packaged with the chitosan-based GFSE composite films
was twice as long as those wrapped in synthetic packaging
seed extract was used on bread, fungi appeared after five
31 • January 2017 • Plastics News