Edible packaging will be racked up in recent years

[China Packaging Network News] Researchers are developing an edible milk protein material that can replace plastic products for use in food packaging. Most foods are packaged in plastic and cannot be recycled and biodegraded. What's worse is that in some cases plastic may leach harmful substances into the food.

Researchers presented the results of their work at the 252nd National Meeting & Exposition, organized by the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Philadelphia. There were more than 9,000 reports on scientific research in this event. Research group leader Peggy Tomasula, D.Sc., said that wrapping paper made from protein can effectively prevent food spoilage and food waste.

Casein is better than starch

US Department of Agriculture researchers are studying the use of casein to make edible films, claiming that this material is 500 times more powerful than plastic films. The raw material of the edible film comes from milk and is therefore biodegradable and sustainable.

No health problems

Regarding whether the film made from this dairy product would have an effect on lactose intolerance, Tomasula responded to the DairyReporter, who mentioned that the film does not contain lactose. “We use casein as a model for researching films. We will use other dairy products as raw materials in the future. These products will not have health problems, but because the film contains milk protein, it cannot be used to package or layer fruits and vegetables. ."

Addition of citrus pectin

The researchers said that they first tried to use pure casein to make such a film, which can effectively block oxygen, but the production process is more complicated and the film can easily dissolve in water. By adding citrus pectin to casein to improve the manufacturing process, the film is stronger and more resistant to moisture and high temperatures. After making some additional adjustments, the shape of the film resembles that of a commercially available product, but is more elastic. The edible film raw material is almost entirely derived from protein.

The future of edible packaging

According to research, nutritional additives can also be used in future edible packaging, including vitamins, probiotics and health products. Since the film has almost no taste, spices can also be used therein.

Another leader of the study, Dr. Laetitia Bonnaillie, said: “The use of this film in the coatings market has a very promising market. We are currently testing related applications, such as individually packaged edible food packaging. For example, individually packaged cheese sticks use a lot of plastic, and we will propose a solution to this.”

The potential of cereals

Since the individually packaged parts require a hygienic environment, they are still wrapped in a large plastic or paper container and placed on the store shelves to avoid moisture and dust. In addition to being able to make plastic bags and wrapping paper, films made from casein can also be sprayed directly onto foods, such as cereals such as cereals. At present, cereals soaked in milk are predominantly brittle by covering the outer layer with a layer of sugar. This method can be used on pizza or other food packaging boxes to prevent grease from contaminating the packaging, or as a layer of paper or cardboard boxes, and plastic bags. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently banned the use of perfluorinated substances on food packaging, and casein has become a safe, biodegradable, and very good alternative. Bonnaillie said that her group currently manufactures prototype film samples for a small company in Texas. This attempt has also attracted interest from other companies. She expects that the packaging film made of this casein can appear on store shelves within three years.