European Refucoat Project develops recyclable food packaging

European Refucoat Project develops recyclable nutrient packaging

The Refucoat Projection has developed innovative, efficient, bioplastic food packaging production processes using renewable materials that are as well recyclable and could supersede conventional fossil-based raw materials. 3 different bio-based active packaging systems were developed, specifically designed to package fresh chicken meat, cereals, and snacks, through the conception of bacteriophage-based coatings that reduce the proliferation of Salmonella bacteria in chicken chest samples packaged in a modified atmosphere.

Food wastage has become a worldwide trouble. According to the Nutrient and Agriculture System (FAO), each European Matrimony citizen throws away 179 kilos of food in good condition on boilerplate per year. Food loss and wastage must be reduced to create a Zero Hunger world and meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 2 (Zero hunger) and SDG 12 (Responsible consumption and production).

Of the packaging technologies that extend the shelf life of food, plastic materials are the most usually used considering of their versatility, lightness, ease of handling, and forcefulness, making them uniquely suitable for food packaging. Despite all these advantages, the European Union's 2022 plastics strategy adamant that all packaging must exist recyclable by 2030. Meanwhile, consumers' increased environmental awareness has made it necessary to keep with research to obtain more sustainable packaging.

Within this context, the European Refucoat Project adult sustainable active packaging solutions to address the challenge fix by the European Marriage for 2030 by doing research on packaging solutions that could positively impact the reduction of food waste. Specifically, innovative, efficient bioplastic production processes were developed to package food using renewable materials that are too recyclable and could replace conventional fossil-fuel-based materials. These bioplastics include polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and polyglycolide (PGA), which were used to develop three different bio-based agile packaging systems, specifically designed to package fresh craven meat, cereals, and snacks.

Additionally, ane of the projection's greatest innovations was the conception of bacteriophage-based coatings that considerably reduce the proliferation of Salmonella bacteria in chicken breast samples packaged in a modified temper. The projection successfully addressed i of the issues faced by packaging with barrier backdrop – in guild to protect nutrient, packaging must be made upwards of complex multilayer structures that are either difficult or costly to recycle. However, all the packaging systems developed by the Refucoat Projection can be recycled and/or converted into compost, which makes them a very promising sustainable alternative to current packaging on the market.

Lorena Rodríguez Garrido, a packaging researcher at AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Middle, and the scientific coordinator of Refucoat, says, "Packaging must be recyclable and must also maintain the barrier properties that aid protect packaged food. Current packaging has a complex multilayer construction and is fabricated from non-renewable sources. It provides all the protective functions but is hard and expensive to recycle. Refucoat aims to replace electric current packaging with more sustainable, better-performing alternatives."

High-performance packaging pattern

In three years, the Refucoat Project focused on iii master areas: developing active coatings for food packaging films that utilize bacteriophage organisms to extend the shelf life of nutrient products and provide a significant reduction in the proliferation of Salmonella in chicken chest samples packaged in a modified environment; using depression-quality flour (a food industry by-product that would otherwise be wasted) equally a base to produce polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), a biodegradable biopolymer, which is then used to manufacture food trays that extend the shelf life of fresh chicken meat products; and, finally, developing an efficient production process for polyglycolide (PGA), a completely biodegradable material with excellent water barrier properties, which gives it promising applications for food packaging. Until recently, this solution had been too expensive to utilise to replace fossil-fuel-based materials.

The Refucoat Project ended in October 2022 after successfully validating all the new packaging structures and comparison their performance with metalized packaging for non-biological applications currently used for industrial products. Tests were besides carried out to compare the products' shelf life and biodegradability with those of current conventional packaging on the marketplace.

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