Antimicrobial Active Packaging

CINTIA BELÉN CONTRERAS; GERMAN CHARLES; RICARDO TOSELLI; MIRIAM STRUMIA

Biopackaging

CRC Press

Año: 2017; p. 36 - 58

For centuries, the overriding need to contain and protect products of different nature has led to the use of different types of packaging technologies. Today, this phenomenon is particularly important when it comes to food packaging.The FDA reported that globally, around 1.3 billion tons of food are disposed off each year due to problems associated with production, distribution and storage stages. In Latin America, this loss represents approximately 200 kg per individual annually, while in more developed countries it reaches 300 kg per year. In view of this scenario, packaging plays a key role in the food production and storage.Synthetic polymers, specifically thermoplastics, are the main packaging materials due to their versatile solutions to a variety of needs. They exhibit highly advantageous characteristics, such as transparency, good presentation, transfer resistance, heat sealability, and good strength to weight ratio. Further, plastics are generally inexpensive and efficient, showing mechanical properties such as stress and tensile strength, being good barriers to oxygen and heat. Although all these advantages have already been recognized, conventional packaging polymers have begun to be questioned due to growing environmental concerns.