The Fundamental Role of Food Packaging
Packaging is an essential element in ensuring sustainable food consumption. Its primary role is to preserve food quality and safety, reduce food waste and food-borne diseases, and minimize the negative environmental impact of producing and distributing uneaten or inedible food.
The key to effective food packaging lies in matching the packaging’s functional properties, particularly its mass transfer characteristics, to the specific requirements of the food product. Mass transfer through the packaging material – including the transfer of gases, water vapor, and aroma compounds – plays a crucial role in controlling food degradation reactions and extending shelf life.
For instance, the control of oxygen concentration in the headspace can limit oxidation reactions and the growth of aerobic microorganisms, two major causes of food spoilage during storage. This is the principle behind Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP), where the internal atmosphere is modified either passively by the product itself or actively through the use of gas flushing, emitters, or scavengers.
However, the barrier properties of current packaging materials often do not fully meet the needs of the packaged food. They may be either too low, as in the case of oxygen-sensitive products, or too high, necessitating the perforation of plastic films for respiring products like fresh fruits and vegetables. As a result, much of the existing packaging is over-designed or poorly adapted to the food, failing to efficiently and sufficiently contribute to maintaining food quality and shelf life.
Challenges in Commercializing Sustainable Packaging Solutions
Despite the potential benefits of innovative packaging solutions, the commercialization of sustainable food packaging remains hindered by several key challenges:
Technical Hurdles for Bio-Based and Biodegradable Materials
The development of bio-based and biodegradable packaging materials, often referred to as “bio-packaging,” has been a major focus of research and innovation. However, these materials face significant technical challenges that have hindered their large-scale market uptake.
Raw Material Variability and Processing Limitations: Bio-based materials derived from renewable resources, such as agricultural residues or microbial polymers, often exhibit greater variability in their properties compared to their fossil-fuel-based counterparts. They also tend to have narrower processing windows, making them more difficult to scale up and integrate into existing packaging production lines.
Misleading “Bio” Claims: The use of the “bio” label (e.g., “bio-based,” “biodegradable,” “bioplastic”) has led to confusion and mistrust among consumers. Many existing “bio” solutions are not readily compostable in home or industrial settings, or they compete with food resources, further complicating their sustainability credentials.
Lack of Tools to Tailor Packaging to Food Needs
Currently, there is a general lack of systematic approaches and decision-support tools to help packaging users and producers select the most suitable packaging solution for a given food product. Without a requirement-driven approach to packaging design, it is challenging to ensure that the packaging’s functional properties, such as gas permeability, accurately match the food’s preservation requirements.
Difficulties in Quantifying and Communicating Sustainability Benefits
The full environmental and socio-economic benefits of innovative packaging solutions, particularly their ability to reduce food waste and losses, are not always well-quantified or effectively communicated to all stakeholders, including consumers. This makes it difficult for packaging users to assess the true sustainability of different options and hinders their widespread adoption.
Fragmentation in the Innovation Ecosystem
The food and packaging industries are highly fragmented, with a lack of collaboration and exchange of knowledge between the various stakeholders, including researchers, manufacturers, retailers, and consumers. This fragmentation prevents the packaging sector from seizing the full potential of sustainable innovations and delivering comprehensive solutions that address the complex challenges of food waste and environmental impact.
Overcoming the Challenges: Towards a Circular Bio-Economy for Food Packaging
To address the main challenges in the development and commercialization of sustainable food packaging, several promising solutions are emerging, underpinned by the principles of the circular bio-economy.
Unlocking the Potential of Microbial Biopolymers
One of the most promising approaches is the conversion of agricultural and agro-food residues into “naturally biodegradable” packaging materials using microbial biopolymers, such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA).
PHA Production from Waste Streams: PHA, particularly the copolymer polyhydroxy(butyrate-co-valerate) (P(HB-co-HV)), is considered a viable substitute for oil-based synthetic polymers. By using food industry by-products and waste streams as feedstock and mixed microbial cultures for the bioconversion process, PHA production can be decoupled from competition with food resources, while also addressing the issue of persistent plastic waste accumulation.
Tailoring Functional Properties: Researchers have demonstrated the ability to produce PHA copolymers with a higher hydroxyvalerate (HV) content, which can improve the polymer’s thermal, mechanical, and barrier properties, making it more suitable for food packaging applications. The incorporation of low-cost lignocellulosic fillers derived from solid residues can further enhance the packaging material’s functional characteristics while maintaining biodegradability.
Requirement-Driven Packaging Design and Validation
To help packaging users and producers select the most suitable packaging solutions, there is a need for the development of early guidance tools and decision-support systems. These tools should be based on a user-driven strategy that can tailor packaging to the specific requirements of the food product and market demands.
Modeling Mass Transfer and Reactions: Advancements in food engineering and computer science have enabled the development of mathematical models that can simulate the complex mass transfer and reaction kinetics within food-packaging systems. These models can assist in predicting the shelf life of packaged products and validating the usage benefit of new packaging solutions.
Communicating Sustainability Performance: By incorporating these modeling approaches, decision-support tools can provide packaging users with user-friendly information on the sustainability performance of different packaging alternatives, including their ability to reduce food waste and losses. This can help increase the awareness and acceptance of sustainable packaging solutions among all stakeholders, including consumers.
Fostering Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing
To overcome the fragmentation in the innovation ecosystem, there is a need for a more concerted and collaborative effort involving all relevant stakeholders, from packaging producers and food manufacturers to retailers and consumers.
Multidisciplinary Initiatives: By bringing together expertise from various fields, including food science, material science, environmental science, and computer science, a holistic approach can be developed to address the complex challenges of sustainable food packaging.
Tailored Support for SMEs: Recognizing the significant role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the food and packaging sectors, it is crucial to provide them with the necessary tools, knowledge, and network contacts to facilitate the adoption of sustainable packaging solutions that are tailored to their specific needs and market demands.
The Path Towards a Sustainable Food Packaging Future
By 2050, the next generation of food packaging is expected to make significant contributions towards reducing waste in both food and packaging materials, while also minimizing the associated negative environmental impacts.
Reducing Food Waste: Through the deployment of well-designed packaging solutions, particularly those leveraging modified atmosphere technologies, it is estimated that a 50% decrease in food waste at the retail and consumer levels could be achieved by 2050. This would translate to a reduction of around 100 million tons of food waste in the European Union, with corresponding environmental benefits in terms of decreased greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, and land degradation.
Transitioning to a Circular Bio-Economy: By transitioning towards a circular bio-economy model for food packaging, where a significant portion of the materials are derived from the conversion of agricultural and agro-food residues into biodegradable biopolymers, the reliance on fossil-fuel-based resources can be reduced. This shift could lead to a net saving of 43 million tons of oil equivalent (MTOE) in Europe and 150 MTOE globally by 2050, along with a reduction of 120 million tons of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions in Europe alone.
Combating Persistent Plastic Waste: If the adoption of bio-based and biodegradable packaging materials reaches 50% of the European food packaging market by 2050, it could contribute to a 50% reduction in persistent plastic waste, addressing the critical issue of plastic accumulation in natural environments, particularly in the oceans.
By harnessing the power of the circular bio-economy and fostering collaboration among stakeholders, the food packaging sector can play a pivotal role in creating a more sustainable and resilient food system that minimizes waste, preserves natural resources, and protects the environment for generations to come.
