Bringing New Function to Packaging Materials by Agricultural By-Products

Abstract

The development of functional additives for packaging polymers starting for byproducts of the agriculture and food industry is a very active research field. Different examples are discussed concerning the formulation of polylactides (PLA) in the aim to increase ductility and barrier properties or developing active packaging using byproducts of the vegetable oil industry and lignocellulosic materials. Moreover, the potential of the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates from agricultural byproducts is shown and recent results concerning their blending with auxiliary polymers in the aim to obtain packaging materials. Notwithstanding the renewable origin of such novel technological adjuvants for packaging materials, their safety must be ensured and they need to comply with existing regulations. The fundamental principles and means for risk management are summed up. When performance and safety is designed together, there is a high potential for the from agriculture and food industry to contribute to the development of new packaging systems safer for consumers and environment.