Edible Food Packaging Made From Milk Proteins

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In the various food industries, food packaging is generally done through plastic. But from nature’s point of view, plastic creates huge, non-recyclable, non-biodegradable waste. As we all know, plastic waste poses a massive threat to our Ecosystem. Some plastics are suspected of leaching potentially harmful compounds into food. Current food packaging is mainly petroleum-based and not sustainable. It also does not degrade, creating sizeable plastic waste in landfills for years.

Keeping all the above problems in mind, scientists are now developing a new packaging film. To create an all-around better packaging solution, scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are developing an environmentally friendly film. This food packaging film will be developed using milk proteins. It is even edible. The films are strong oxygen blockers. Thus, they help prevent food spoilage.

According to researchers, if these films are used in packaging, they could prevent food waste during distribution along the food chain. The films are 500 times better than plastics at keeping oxygen from food. It has tiny pores and thus creates a tighter network that keeps oxygen out.

The researchers’ first attempt using pure casein resulted in a robust and efficient oxygen blocker. It was relatively hard to handle and would dissolve in water too quickly. They made some improvements by combining citrus pectin into the blend to strengthen the packaging. It also becomes more resistant to humidity and high temperatures.

After some improvements, the packaging film looks like store-bought plastic wrap. But it is less stretchy. The material is edible and develops almost all proteins. Nutritious supplements like vitamins, probiotics, and nutraceuticals might be included in the future. It is not very tasty, but flavors will be added soon.

Laetitia Bonnaillie, Ph.D., co-leader of the study, “The coatings applications for this product are endless. “We are currently testing applications like single-serve, edible food wrappers. For example, individually wrapped cheese sticks use a large proportion of plastic, we would like to fix that.”

Single-serve pouches require staying sanitary. They require wrapping in a large plastic or cardboard container for sale on a store counter to prevent them from getting wet or dirty.

Being used as plastic pouches and wraps, this film could sprayed onto food, like cereal flakes or bars. Currently, cereals keep their crunch in milk due to a sugar coating. Rather than all that sugar, manufacturers could spray on casein protein coatings to prevent soggy cereal. The spray could also line pizza or other food boxes to keep the grease from staining the packaging or serve as a lamination step for paper or cardboard food boxes or plastic pouches. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration recently banned the perfluorinated substances used to coat these containers so that casein coatings could be a safe, biodegradable alternative.

Bonnaillie says her group is currently creating prototype film samples for a small company in Texas, and the development has garnered interest among other companies, too. The group plans to keep improving, and she predicts this casein packaging will be on store shelves within three years.

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