title: Nanocellulose in green food packaging.
abstract: The development of packaging materials with new functionalities and lower environmental impact is now an urgent need of our society. On one hand, the shelf-life extension of packaged products can be an answer to the exponential increase of worldwide demand for food. On the other hand, uncertainty of crude oil prices and reserves has imposed the necessity to find raw materials to replace oil-derived polymers. Additionally, consumers' awareness toward environmental issues increasingly pushes industries to look with renewed interest to "green" solutions. In response to these issues, numerous polymers have been exploited to develop biodegradable food packaging materials. Although the use of biopolymers has been limited due to their poor mechanical and barrier properties, these can be enhanced by adding reinforcing nanosized components to form nanocomposites. Cellulose is probably the most used and well-known renewable and sustainable raw material. The mechanical properties, reinforcing capabilities, abundance, low density, and biodegradability of nanosized cellulose make it an ideal candidate for polymer nanocomposites processing. Here we review the potential applications of cellulose based nanocomposites in food packaging materials, highlighting the several types of biopolymers with nanocellulose fillers that have been used to form bio-nanocomposite materials. The trends in nanocellulose packaging applications are also addressed.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Food and Nutrition , National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, I.P. , Lisboa , Portugal.
authors.forename: Fernanda
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vilarinho
authors.affiliation: a Department of Food and Nutrition , National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, I.P. , Lisboa , Portugal.|b Centro de Estudos de Ciência Animal (CECA) , Universidade do Porto , Porto , Portugal.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sanches Silva
authors.affiliation: c IDMEC, Instituto Superior Técnico, Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica , Universidade de Lisboa , Lisboa , Portugal.
authors.forename: M Fátima
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Vaz
authors.affiliation: d Centro de Química-Física Molecular and Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa , Lisboa , Portugal.
authors.forename: José Paulo
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6394-5031
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Farinha
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry; D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry*; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D018857:Food Packaging; D053761:Nanocomposites / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers; D002482:Cellulose
keywords: Bionanocomposites; food contact material; nanocellulose