Introduction to Natural Materials for Food Packaging

During storage and transportation, food packaging is anticipated to maintain the reliability as well as protection of the food material. In the current food packaging industry scenario, nonbiodegradable petroleum-based polymeric materials are widely utilized. But it is a well-known fact that these nonbiodegradable traditional materials pose serious and adverse environmental threats. This subsequently led to numerous researches on environment-friendly packaging materials to substitute the conventional plastic packaging ingredients to overcome disposal problems associated with current-day plastics. Various bio-based polymers like thermoplastic starch (TPS), polybutylene succinate (PBS), and poly-lactic acid (PLA) are the current market capturers for food packaging applications. Alongside, the characteristics of the bio-based polymers can be tailored by reinforcing micro and/or nanoparticles as fillers which is also the order of current-day research. This paved way for biopolymer/filler composites which could be readily employed for food packaging applications. This chapter comprehensively deals with various classifications of natural materials that can be used for packaging, their properties, and quality assessment of those materials.