Natural Products-Based Materials for Food Packaging Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Plastic products are currently the most commonly used materials in food packaging, but this material has the defects of being difficult to degrade and unable to inhibit bacteria. Therefore, many researchers have been working on the development of new materials and natural products-based materials for food packaging. Natural polymers such as chitosan have good mechanical properties, biocompatibility and antibacterial properties, and are an ideal membrane -forming material. In the meanwhile, many natural extracts from plant by-products like seed, peel, root, husk, etc. are also added to improve the anti-spoilage bacteria and freshness of packaging materials. For example, a variety of essential oils have been shown to have good broad-spectrum antibacterial properties. Many phenolic hydroxyl groups in polyphenols can be bound to amino or carboxyl groups through hydrogen bonds, and hydrophobic benzene rings can also be bound to biological macromolecules through hydrophobic forces. It indicates that polyphenols could be an active component of polysaccharide membranes. Consequently, natural products have high application value and potential development in the field of food packaging.

Dr. Lingxia Huang
Dr. Yanbo Wang
Dr. Congjiang Cao
Guest Editors

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