Edible packaging! Really environmentally friendly bio-based degradable materials?
Plastic food packaging contributes to a huge increase in waste in landfills, so researchers are exploring bio-derived alternatives. Scientists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong have now developed an edible, transparent and biodegradable material with great potential for use in food packaging.
Professor To Ngai from the Department of Chemistry at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the study's corresponding author emphasizes that the impressive tensile strength and multifunctionality of bacterial cellulose are key to its potential.
Although in plant cellulose exists in the cell wall, bacterial cellulose can be produced by microbial fermentation. "This production method does not cause deforestation or habitat loss, making BC a more sustainable and environmentally friendly material alternative to plant cellulose," Ngai said.
The widespread adoption of bacterial cellulose has been hampered by its sensitivity to moisture (hygroscopicity), affecting its physical properties. In a paper recently published in the SCI Journal of Food and Agricultural Sciences, researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong propose a new method to overcome this limitation. By incorporating certain soy proteins and coating the material with an oil-resistant composite, the team succeeded in creating an edible, transparent and durable BC-based composite packaging.
Ngai believes the method is highly scalable because it does not require specific reaction conditions such as chemical reactions, but simple mixing and coating techniques.
Studies have shown that plastic alternatives can fully degrade within one to two months. Unlike some bio-derived plastics such as polylactic acid, BC-based composites do not require industrial composting conditions to degrade.
