Fabrication, performance, and potential environmental impacts of polysaccharide-based food packaging materials incorporated with phytochemicals: A review

Authors: WU, YANBEI - Beijing Technology And Business University; YU, XUELING - Beijing Technology And Business University; YU, LIANGLI - University Of Maryland; WANG, JING - Beijing Technology And Business University; XIN, MENGMENG - Beijing Technology And Business University; Wang, Thomas - Tom

Submitted to: Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/19/2023
Publication Date: 7/22/2023
Citation: Wu, Y., Yu, X., Yu, L., Wang, J., Xin, M., Wang, T.T. 2023. Fabrication, performance, and potential environmental impacts of polysaccharide-based food packaging materials incorporated with phytochemicals: A review. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. 249:125922. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125922.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125922

Interpretive Summary: Despite food packaging preserving food's desired quality throughout its shelf life, it unfortunately also contributes a lot to global climate change due to the massive carbon emissions associated with production, management, and disposal. Developing biopolymer-based packaging materials (BPMs) is a promising approach to preserve the freshness of foods, but also help the food industry reduce its carbon footprint. BPMs incorporated with phytochemicals hold promise to address this critical issue and add health promoting functionality to the foods. However, health benefits of phytochemicals are impacted by their distinct chemical structures thus the phytochemicals-incorporated BPMs generally exhibit differential performances. Hence, BPMs must be thoughtfully formulated to possess adequate barrier, mechanical, optical, and preservative properties to meet commercial standards. Given these intrinsic complexity, this review first-time provides an overview of the recent advances in the fabrication strategy of functional phytochemicals incorporated BPMs. The application performances of the phytochemicals-incorporated BPMs for preserving foods, as well as the intelligent monitoring of food quality, are thoroughly described and summarized. The possible associated environmental impacts and scalability challenges for the commercial application of these BPMs are also methodically assessed. This review seeks to provide comprehensive insights into exploring new avenues to achieve a greener and safer food industry via innovative food packaging materials. This is paramount to preserve not only food shelf life but also the environment, facilitating the eco-friendly development of the food industry. This review provide state-of-the-art information related to BPM and will benefit food and nutrition scientist interested in developing or refining BPM.

Technical Abstract: Despite food packaging preserving food's desired quality throughout its shelf life, it unfortunately also contributes a lot to global climate change due to the massive carbon emissions associated with production, management, and disposal. Developing biopolymer-based packaging materials (BPMs) is a promising approach to preserve the freshness of foods, but also help the food industry reduce its carbon footprint. BPMs incorporated with phytochemicals hold promise to address this critical issue and add health promoting functionality to the foods. However, health benefits of phytochemicals are impacted by their distinct chemical structures thus the phytochemicals-incorporated BPMs generally exhibit differential performances. Hence, BPMs must be thoughtfully formulated to possess adequate barrier, mechanical, optical, and preservative properties to meet commercial standards. Given these intrinsic complexity, this review first-time provides an overview of the recent advances in the fabrication strategy of functional phytochemicals incorporated BPMs. The application performances of the phytochemicals-incorporated BPMs for preserving foods, as well as the intelligent monitoring of food quality, are thoroughly described and summarized. The possible associated environmental impacts and scalability challenges for the commercial application of these BPMs are also methodically assessed. This review seeks to provide comprehensive insights into exploring new avenues to achieve a greener and safer food industry via innovative food packaging materials. This is paramount to preserve not only food shelf life but also the environment, facilitating the eco-friendly development of the food industry.