Consumers are looking for less preservatives in packaged foods, while the environment requires less plastic waste, Cornell scientists are developing active packaging materials using a bio-derived polymer. This helps salad dressings and marinades last longer in the refrigerator.
The journal will publish the new Cornell research in June Food Packaging and Shelf Life.
Active packaging allows us to prolong shelf life despite consumer demand for cleaner labels, said Ian Kay (a doctoral student studying food science). It’s not easy. It is difficult because foods and beverages have a complex composition. To understand which system works best for which foods, we need to be able to study the chemistry and active packaging.
To demonstrate how it can be used for food packaging, a biologically-derived plastic is grafted onto the disc in the lab.
Joshua Herskovitz, Ph.D. 20, was trained in the laboratory Julie GoddardProfessor of food science at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kay, grafted the corn derived polylactic acid polymer with antioxidant nitrilotriacetic to use it as food packaging. Kay continued Herskovitz’s work and discovered the materials interfacial pH (which tells you the pH of the food in the packaging to prevent spoilage).
Because the antioxidant is bound with the polylactic acid, it can interact with food but not migrate to it.
Goddard stated that this means you can get the shelf-life benefits of the preservative but not eat it. This allows consumers to choose cleaner labels, which is what they really want.
Goddard explained that active packaging technology, which uses bioderived and biodegradable material, such as polylactic acids, can help reduce the two largest contributors of municipal solid waste.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States produced 68.13 millions tons of food waste in 2018 and 35.68million tons of plastic waste in 2018. This plastic-food mixture accounted for 42% of all landfilled municipal solid refuse, which significantly contributed to methane emissions and carbon dioxide.
Goddard stated that as a food scientist, I am excited about finding new ways to reduce food waste and packaging waste. While I am not anti-preservatives in general, it is important to remember that ingredients used in the kitchen, such as heat, salt, and lemon juice, are essential ingredients in food preservation.
Goddard said that while we can remove preservatives from food, we also need to consider the environmental impacts if food spoils quicker. We can extend shelf life and move closer to a circular economy by using greener active packaging techniques.
Goddard, a faculty Fellow at the Cornell Atkinson Center for SustainabilityShe said that this was an opportunity to demonstrate how this new preservation technology can be used and to address the larger environmental problem of reducing waste going to landfill. She said that we want reduce food waste and bring bioderived material to help us do this.
The research Interfacial Behavior of a Polylactic acid Active Packaging Film Defines Its Performance in Complex Food Matrices, was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Agricultures National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
