COATINGS/FILMS FOR FOOD PACKAGING: GREAT POTENTIALS OF NATURAL POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITES IN VIET NAM

Abstract

Recently, significant efforts have been devoted to evaluate various natural polymers as alternatives to synthetic plastic packaging. Natural polymer nanocomposites consist of natural biopolymers (e.g., chitosan, starch, cellulose, alginate and many more) derived from plants, which are abundantly available in nature, biodegradable and thus eco-friendly, incorporated with nanomaterials can prevent the growth of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms, improve food quality and safety, and extend shelf-life of food. Therefore, the objective of this work is to review the most recent developments in the fabrication of natural polymer nanocomposite films/coatings as well as their applications in various food products and the effects they had on them. These perspectives could provide information for the future research should be carried out to widen the applications of bioactive films/coatings to more foods and industries, as well was their industrial scale-up, thus helping to minimize the use of plastic materials.