Edible packaging based on natural sources for food applications

16th IUFoST World Congress of Food Science and Technology: Addressing Global Food Security and Wellness through Food Science and Technology[Excerpt] Innovations constantly appear in food packaging, always aiming at creating a more efficient quality preservation system while improving foods’ attractiveness and marketability. The utilization of renewable sources for packaging materials, such as hydrocolloids from biological origin, is one of the main trends of the food packaging industry. Edible films/coatings have been considered as one of the potential technologies that can be used to increase the storability of foods and to improve the existent packaging technology, helping to ensure microbial safety and preservation of food from the influence of external factors. [...]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bio-based coatings for food processing applications

Innovations constantly appear in food packaging, always aiming at creating a more efficient quality preservation system while improving foods attractiveness and marketability. The utilization of renewable sources for packaging materials, such as hydrocolloids from biological origin, is one of the main trends of the food packaging industry. Edible coatings have been considered as one of the potential technologies that can be used to increase the storability of foods and to improve the existent packaging technology, helping to ensure microbial safety and preservation of food from the influence of external factors. In view of these advantages concerning the application of edible coating solutions, recent developments have been achieved regarding the utilization of new materials. Work has been developed on the application of galactomannans, chitosan, Policaju, and collagen-based coatings on fruits (1, 2), cheese (3, 4) and fish (5), with the incorporation in some cases of antimicrobials and antifungals (5,7). Recently, the layerby- layer technique was used to apply these bio-based coatings as a nanolayer in fruits such as pears and mangoes (8, 9) using materials such as chitosan, lysozyme, pectin and k-carrageenan. Globally, results showed that the application of bio-based coatings on food products lead to the improvement of the quality and to the increase of shelf-life of food products. It is viewed that in a near future tailored edible packaging solutions based on natural biopolymers can be applied to selected foods, partially replacing nonbiodegradable/ non-edible plastics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Characterization of edible beeswax-based oleogels aiming at food incorporation

São Paulo School of Advanced Sciences on Reverse Engineering of Processed Foods[Excerpt] Uprising concern and consciousness of consumers, regarding saturated fat consumption, and the consequent demand for healthier food products are well visible in today’s society. Such continuous challenges question the food industry to quickly present solutions. Replace saturated fats in the food processing chain can be accomplished with the incorporation of edible oilbased gels or oleogels, which try to reproduce common fat structural and sensorial characteristics. Oil gelation effectiveness is managed by the gelators’ crystallization behaviour, where beeswax rises as a good candidate. [...]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Partículas de gel biopoliméricas para aplicações alimentares e farmacêuticas

National Patent (INPI)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Use of edible films and coatings in cheese preservation: Opportunities and challenges

In the last years, there has been a growing interest in the use of edible materials in food packaging. The cheese industry is clearly one of the sectors where these materials have a good opportunity for application, as shown by the recent developments on edible coatings and films for cheese. Edible coatings and films, besides its edibility, can be used to reduce weight loss and prevent the microbiological spoilage through the control of oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange rate and as a carrier of antimicrobial compounds. This review summarizes the recent results on edible films and coatings for cheese, the main developments and the main future perspectives for the application of these materials in the cheese industry.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/ BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. Maria José Costa is recipient of a fellowship supported by a doctoral program (SFRH/BD/122897/2016) funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, POPH-QREN and FSE Portugal).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Antiviral edible coatings and films: A strategy to ensure food safety

Background Pathological viral transmission via food has been a problem throughout humankind's evolutionary history, impacting food safety and public health. Fresh produce can be contaminated at any stage from pre- to post-harvest and frequently goes through little to no processing, imposing a high risk for contamination by foodborne viruses. Also, due to the globalization of the food industry and supply networks, the spread of enteric virus-related foodborne disorders has worsened. The current understanding of the transmission of viruses through contaminated foods needs more information regarding the potential infectivity, and it is essential to have effective ways to prevent viral transmission and minimize its adverse effects on human and animal health. Scope and approach This review addresses the global public health issue related to foodborne viruses and the current challenges of food safety. It provides an overview of food-grade and naturally occurring antiviral compounds with good antimicrobial activity and emphasizes how edible films and coatings with embedded antiviral agents can reduce the transmission of foodborne illness. Key findings and conclusions Antiviral edible films and coatings can be developed using plant-based compounds and their derived-products, like essential oils and extracts, with bioactive properties. Their use in food products and food contact materials can contribute to developing strategies to contain infectious outbreaks. Results show that these compounds interact with the viral particle, causing some damage to the virus integrity and affecting its infectivity. The development of antiviral edible films and coatings containing these bioactive compounds showed great potential against enteric viruses that cause foodborne illness, specifically norovirus and hepatitis A virus. However, some antiviral agents have also been shown to be very effective against other pathogenic viruses of great importance, some of which are not typically foodborne but can also be dangerous to humans.This work received funding from EIT Food (Grant agreement ID: 20400), the innovation community on Food of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the EU, under Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Physico-chemical properties of alginate-based films: crosslinking and mannuronic/ guluronic ratio effect

São Paulo School of Advanced Sciences on Reverse Engineering of Processed Foods[Excerpt] Films can be produced by different edible materials such as: polysaccharides, protein, and lipids, with the possible addition of plasticizers and/or surfactants. Their performance is directly related with the material composition and the environmental conditions. Alginate films have been extensively studied, nevertheless their use in the production of edible films ask for the fully understanding of the effect of their main characteristics on the film’s final properties. This work aims to characterize alginatebased films (10 g/L), with different ratios of mannuronic (M) and guluronic (G) acids and cross linking with different concentrations of CaCl2 (0 to 15 g/L). [...]Maria José Costa is recipient of a fellowship supported by a doctoral program (SFRH/BD/122897/2016) funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, POPH-QREN and FSE Portugal).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Multilayers of chitosan and alginate for the development of core-shell nanocapsules

The Layer-by-Layer (LbL) self-assembly deposition can be performed by consecutively adsorbing oppositely charged polyelectrolytes on to a charged template. The main driving force is thus the strong electrostatic interaction between oppositely charged polyelectrolytes. This technique has been extensively used for the preparation of capsules, mainly because it is an inexpensive, highly adaptable, and facile solution-based assembly method, thus allowing materials to be designed and assembled with specific properties and nanoscale precision. Moreover, LbL capsules are promising and multifaceted nanocarriers with a wide range of applications. The present work aims at developing biodegradable nanocapsules as carriers of different bioactive compounds (5-aminosalycilic acid and Glycomacropeptide) through the LbL assembly of chitosan and alginate. Nanocapsules were built through the deposition of four (chitosan/alginate) layers on polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles (diameter120 nm), used as templates, being the bioactive compounds deposited on the third layer, followed by removal of the PS core with Tetrahydrofuran. Multilayer capsules were characterized by means of dynamic light scattering (DLS) (size and zeta potential). The zeta potential showed the stepwise deposition of chitosan (+58) and alginate (-59) alternating layers on the PS nanoparticles. DLS measurements showed that the size of the nanocapsules is on the order of nanometers, with increasing values with the successive deposition of the polyelectrolytes. Also the encapsulation efficiency of the bioactive compounds in the capsules was determined, with the best results (70%) for the system containing 5-aminosalycilic acid. These multilayer capsules demonstrated a good ability to encapsulate two different bioactive compounds, being a promising carrier system with functional properties for applications in different areas such as food and pharmaceutical industries