Production of New Generation Packaging Materials with Utilization of Food Wastes

Food packaging is considered as important as food production due to being determinant on the quality and safety of food, in addition to informing customers about the product details (shelf life, ingredients, presence of allergens, etc.). Hence, packaging technology has also been progressing together with food production techniques. Recently, environmentalist approaches have pushed the researchers to green technologies and materials within the production of innovative food packages. In this frame, selection of green and renewable materials can be considered as the first step for such kind of a production. Food wastes and/or by-products are claimed to be great choice for both waste management and reduction of cost. For this purpose, there exist a wide variety of food wastes that can be originated from fruit and vegetables (peels, seeds, hulls, juice, etc.), whey, molasses and so on. Production methods can also vary, such as being based on a chemical (e.g., production of chitosan) or biotechnological process (e.g., bacterial cellulose production as a packaging material ingredient). As a result, organic based packaging materials are obtained and that kind of production has also been investigated in the concept of “bioplastics”. Production of bioplastic packaging materials generally includes particular steps that can be aligned as pre-treatment of the food waste, main production step (extraction, alkaline treatment, etc.) via a selected method and the addition of a plasticizer to form an appropriate film. In biotechnological production applications, food wastes and by-products are generally utilized as a carbon source (substrate) with specific additives and the formation of necessary conditions for a microbial process, while parameters of the process, yield and purity of the product depend on the production itself. These packaging materials are mostly claimed to be promising alternatives with adequate physical and thermo-mechanical properties, as well as some extra functions such as gaining antimicrobial, antioxidant character with good gas barrier properties for a wide spectrum of food products. This study aims to present a general look on those new generation packaging materials with utilization of food wastes.