Food Preservation

Alexandru Grumezescu

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780128043035
• eBook ISBN: 9780128043745
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Medical Microbiology & Parasitology

Food Preservation, Volume Six, the latest in the Nanotechnology in the Agri-Food Industry series, discusses how nanotechnology can improve and control the growth of pathogenic and spoilage compounds to improve food safety and quality. The book includes research information on nanovesicles, nanospheres, metallic nanoparticles, nanofibers, and nanotubes, and how they are capable of trapping bioactive substances to increase and maintain the stability of compounds often sensitive under typical food processing and storage conditions. This book will be useful to a wide audience of food science research professionals and professors and students doing research in the field. - Describes the effective utilization of nanostructured antimicrobials in toxicological studies and real food systems - Offers research strategies for understanding opportunities in antimicrobial nanostructures and the potential challenges of their toxicity - Presents diverse applications of nanostructured antimicrobials in food preservation - Covers the potential benefits of nanotechnology and methods of risk assessment that ensure food safety

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Antimicrobial nanocomposites for food packaging

Xiaolong Deng

Anton Yu Nikiforov

Christophe Leys Ghent University, Department of Applied Physics, Ghent, Belgium

Abstract

Due to the threats caused by contamination of food with microorganisms, there is growth in industrial interest in antimicrobial packaging, which plays a crucial role in extending shelf lifetime of food. Over the last years, different strategies in manufacturing of packaging materials with high antibacterial efficiency have been explored for food preservation and storage. Recent developments in nanosciences and nanotechnologies are offering new prospects for the development of novel packaging materials. Composite materials, containing certain nanoparticles which act as safe and effective antimicrobial agents, have been proposed as promising candidates for packaging. The use of inorganic nanomaterials, such as silver nanoparticles and zinc oxide nanoparticles, and organic nanomaterials, such as chitosan and antimicrobial peptides, has been explored. This chapter presents a critical overview on recent progress in the use of nanomaterials in food packaging and manufacturing of a new class of antimicrobic composites.

Keywords

food packaging

nanocomposite surface

antimicrobial

nanotechnology

food preservation

plasma technology

1. Introduction

Food packaging was initially simply used as the means of containers in which foodstuffs were transported from production place to retail or consumption places. With many practical functions, food packaging has grown as a crucial section in the food industry. Packaging materials act as a barrier between the food and the environment by controlling the transmission of light, heat, moisture, and gases, and the movement of microorganisms or insects. Packaging provides protection of tampering resistance and special physical, chemical, or biological needs. With packaging, the cost of food could be reduced through economies of scale in mass production and efficiency in bulk distribution. During the past decades, the increasing demands on product safety, shelf-life extension, cost efficiency, environmental issues, and consumer convenience catalyzed the development of new packaging materials. In order to meet such varied demands from consumers, manufacturers, and society, various innovative packaging systems, such as active intelligent and smart packaging systems, are emerging factors of all these backgrounds.

Active packaging is a term that refers to the use of packaging to do more than traditional passive packaging which merely protect the food from the outside environment by an inert barrier. Active packaging systems can involve a positive interaction between package or package components and food or internal gas atmosphere to extend the shelf life of foods, while maintaining their nutritional quality, inhibiting the growth of pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms, preventing and/or indicating the migration of contaminants, and displaying any package leaks present, thus ensuring food safety (Ozdemir and Floros, 2004). To achieve the interactions between food and package, certain active agents have to be added into packaging materials. In general, active packaging techniques can be divided into three categories: absorbers, releasing systems, and other systems (Ahvenainen, 2003). Important examples of active packaging include oxygen scavengers, carbon dioxide emitters/absorbers, moisture absorbers, ethylene absorbers, ethanol emitters, flavor releasing/absorbing system...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• List of Contributors
• Series foreword
• Series preface
• Volume preface
• 1: Antimicrobial nanocomposites for food packaging
• 2: Food applications of nanostructured antimicrobials
• 3: Nanostructured antimicrobial materials in the food industry
• 4: Antimicrobial nanotechnology: research implications and prospects in food safety
• 5: Sanitation of equipment
• 6: Recent advances in gas plasma technology for decontamination of food surfaces
• 7: Use of high-intensity ultrasound for production of antimicrobial and self-cleaning surfaces
• 8: Multifunctional antimicrobial nanocomposites for food packaging applications
• 9: Nanostructurated materials for prolonged and safe food preservation
• 10: Nanobiotechnological strategies for toxigenic fungi and mycotoxin control
• 11: Natural products used for food preservation
• 12: Use of nanoparticles as a potential antimicrobial for food packaging
• 13: Recent advances in the direct and nanomaterials-based matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometric approaches for rapid characterization and identification of foodborne pathogens
• 14: Nanometals appraisal in food preservation and food-related activities
• 15: Photodamage and photoprotection: toward safety and sustainability through nanotechnology solutions
• 16: Nanoparticles and their potential application as antimicrobials in the food industry
• 17: Nanobiotechnology of cyanobacterial UV-protective compounds: innovations and prospects
• 18: Advances in molecular biology based assays for the rapid detection of food microbial contaminants
• 19: Antimicrobial food packaging with cellulose-copper nanoparticles embedded in thermoplastic resins
• 20: Scientometric overview in food nanopreservation
• Subject index