Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Sep 12:8:1735.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.01735. eCollection 2017.

Nanotechnology: An Untapped Resource for Food Packaging

Chetan Sharma  1 , Romika Dhiman  2 , Namita Rokana  1 , Harsh Panwar  1
Affiliations
Review

Nanotechnology: An Untapped Resource for Food Packaging

Chetan Sharma et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Food commodities are packaged and hygienically transported to protect and preserve them from any un-acceptable alteration in quality, before reaching the end-consumer. Food packaging continues to evolve along-with the innovations in material science and technology, as well as in light of consumer's demand. Presently, the modern consumers of competitive economies demands for food with natural quality, assured safety, minimal processing, extended shelf-life and ready-to-eat concept. Innovative packaging systems, not only ascertains transit preservation and effective distribution, but also facilitates communication at the consumer levels. The technological advances in the domain of food packaging in twenty-first century are mainly chaired by nanotechnology, the science of nano-materials. Nanotechnology manipulates and creates nanometer scale materials, of commercial and scientific relevance. Introduction of nanotechnology in food packaging sector has significantly addressed the food quality, safety and stability concerns. Besides, nanotechnology based packaging intimate's consumers about the real time quality of food product. Additionally, nanotechnology has been explored for controlled release of preservatives/antimicrobials, extending the product shelf life within the package. The promising reports for nanotechnology interventions in food packaging have established this as an independent priority research area. Nanoparticles based food packages offer improved barrier and mechanical properties, along with food preservation and have gained welcoming response from market and end users. In contrary, recent advances and up-liftment in this area have raised various ethical, environmental and safety concerns. Policies and regulation regarding nanoparticles incorporation in food packaging are being reviewed. This review presents the existing knowledge, recent advances, concerns and future applications of nanotechnology in food packaging sector.

Keywords: antimicrobial; nanoparticles; nanosensors; nanotechnology; packaging.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Concept behind and mode of action of active packaging and intelligent packaging.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The global trend of research interest in nano packaging (NP) and Nano food packaging (NFP), as estimated by the number of Pubmed (P) and Scopus (S) publications hits from 2000 to 2015 (Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed; https://www-scopus-com.scopeesprx.elsevier.com/).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Active packaging and its association with nanotechnology (Adapted from Mihindukulasuriya and Lim, 2014).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Demonstration of intelligent packaging concept and its association with nanotechnology (Adapted from Mihindukulasuriya and Lim, 2014).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Types of composites obtained from the interaction between layered silicate and polymers (Adapted from de Azeredo, 2009).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Different mechanisms of antimicrobial activity exhibited by nanoparticles (Modified from Li et al., 2008).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Adame D., Beall G. W. (2009). Direct measurement of the constrained polymer region in polyamide/clay nanocomposites and the implications for gas diffusion. Appl. Clay Sci. 42, 545–552. 10.1016/j.clay.2008.03.005 - DOI
    1. Advantage Magazine (2004). Nanotechnology and Food Packaging. Available inline at: http://www.azonano.com/Details.asp?ArticleID=857
    1. Ahmed T. A., Aljaeid B. M. (2016). Preparation, characterization, and potential application of chitosan, chitosan derivatives, and chitosan metal nanoparticles in pharmaceutical drug delivery. Drug Des. Devel. Ther. 10, 483–507. 10.2147/DDDT.S99651 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ahuja T., Mir I. A., Kumar D., Rajesh. (2007). Biomolecular immobilization on conducting polymers for biosensing applications. Biomaterials 28, 791–805. 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2006.09.046 - DOI - PubMed
    1. An J., Zhang M., Wang S., Tang J. (2008). Physical, chemical and microbiological changes in stored green asparagus spears as affected by coating of silver nanoparticles-PVP. LWT Food Sci. Technol. 41, 1100–1107. 10.1016/j.lwt.2007.06.019 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources