Towards sustainable food packaging using natural compounds: A review of current research update

Abstract

The food packaging industry faces significant challenges due to the negative impacts of conventional packaging materials, particularly plastics. These materials contribute to pollution, degrade slowly, and pose risks to both human health and the environment through chemical leaching. Consequently, there is an increasing demand for safer and more sustainable packaging alternatives. Natural compounds, including biopolymers and bioactive substances, provide biodegradable options that mitigate these risks. This review examines various natural materials used for environmentally friendly packaging, such as essential oils, plant extracts, polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, chitosan, cellulose, and starch. This review highlights recent innovations, including advanced biopolymer formulations, hybrid materials, and nanotechnology-based enhancements, which improve the mechanical, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties of natural packaging solutions. It also presents comparative analyses of these materials, addressing biodegradation rates, life-cycle assessments (LCAs), and their environmental benefits relative to traditional plastics. The review further investigates challenges related to scalability, cost-effectiveness, and regulatory barriers, while also discussing emerging technologies such as machine learning for optimizing materials. The findings offer actionable insights that promote sustainable food packaging solutions aimed at addressing global health and environmental concerns.