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FOOD TECHNOLOGY

Protecting foods with biopolymer fibres

Nature Food volume 3, pages 402–403 (2022)Cite this article

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A cost-effective, high-throughput fibre-based food packaging approach using non-toxic, biodegradable biopolymer materials offers a strategy to considerably increase food safety and security while minimizing food waste.

Writing in Nature Food, Chang et al4. report that they have developed a cost-effective and high-throughput fibre-based food packaging approach using antimicrobial pullulan (a polysaccharide) fibres. The underlying motivation is to create a scalable food coating food using non-toxic, biodegradable and Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) biomaterials. From a sustainability perspective, water was the only solvent used in the synthesis, and a mixture of nature-derived antimicrobials, including thyme oil, citric acid and nisin, was incorporated with the pullulan fibrous backbone. The authors utilized a rotary jet spinning platform to facilitate rapid and scalable manufacturing and application of the antimicrobial fibres. After detailed and orthogonal characterization of their material, the fibrous coating was evaluated against common food pathogens using in vitro and in vivo assessment.

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Fig. 1: Polymer coatings for food preservation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, CT, USA

    Yi Wang, Jaya Borgatta & Jason C. White

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  1. Yi Wang
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  2. Jaya Borgatta
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  3. Jason C. White
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Correspondence to Jason C. White.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Wang, Y., Borgatta, J. & White, J.C. Protecting foods with biopolymer fibres. Nat Food 3, 402–403 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00519-6

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