Recent Advances of Edible Packaging as an Alternative in Food Packaging Applications

Abstract

The accumulation of non-biodegradable food packaging waste causes huge pollution to the environment, has become a major issue. Currently, the use of edible and biodegradable packaging for food applications to avoid the generation of waste is a fast-emerging eco-friendly technology with increased attention. The edible packaging; films and coatings synthesized from biodegradable sources like polysaccharides, lipids, proteins and composites can be consumed without disposing them to the environment. These can be used on different foods by functioning as barriers to moisture, vapours and other solutes, also by reducing lipid oxidation and discolouration. They perform multiple functions as carriers for active compounds and have the ability to release them at a controlled rate to the packed food, which significantly extends the shelf-life and hence, improves the quality of food. This review focuses on the recent researches on the innovative biopolymer-based edible packaging, an alternative to synthetic nonedible packaging.