The exploitation of polysaccharides in food packaging applications is a dynamic domain of research, owing to their eco-friendly connotation, availability, and singular properties. Within the list of available polysaccharides, nanocellulose, pullulan and chitosan, are three of the most fascinating natural polymers, due to their aptitude to effortlessly originate self-standing films. Therefore, these polysaccharides can be utilized to engineer multifunctional blends or composites with potentialities to be used as active packaging materials to improve the shelf-life, safety, and quality of food [1].<br/>In this presentation, a brief overview of different types of polysaccharides-based films for active food packaging, recently developed in our research group, will be presented, namely (i) chitosan-based films with ellagic acid (EA) [2], pullulan-based films containing lysozyme nanofibers (LNFs) [3], or agri-food by-products [4], and nanocellulose-based films containing brewers spent grain arabinoxylans and feruloylated compounds [5]. The all-inclusive examples present UV-protection, antioxidant properties, and antimicrobial activity against foodborne pathogens, which manifests the potentiality of the combination between polysaccharides and bioactive additives, following different approaches, to engineer low-cost films for the development of sustainable active packaging materials.

Engineering polysaccharide-based films for active food packaging

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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