Potential food applications of biobased materials. An EU-concerted action project

The objective of the study was to ascertain the state of the art with regar d to the applicability of biobased packaging materials to foods and to iden tify potential food applications for biobased materials. The study revealed relatively few examples of biobased materials used as primary, secondary o r tertiary packaging materials for foods. This is due to the fact that publ ished investigations on the use of biobased materials are still scarce, and results obtained remain unpublished because of commercial pressures. The s cientific literature contains numerous reports on applications of edible fi lms and coatings to food but novel commercial applications of these are sca rce. Based on information currently available on the properties of biobased packaging materials the study identified products in the fresh meat, dairy , ready meal, beverage, fruit and vegetable, snack, frozen food and dry foo d categories where conventional packaging may be replaced by biobased packa ging.