Origin of haloacetic acids in milk and dairy products

Edible packaging as sustainable alternative to synthetic plastic: a comprehensive review

The choice of an appropriate packaging materials enhances the shelf life and improves quality of food during transportation, storage, and distribution. Development and innovations in food packaging systems have become essential in the food industry. Most widely used packaging materials are non-biodegradable plastics and are harmful to environment and human health. Thus, food industry is replacing non-biodegradable plastics with biodegradable plastics to reduce environmental pollution, health hazards, and food waste. Edible packaging may reduce food waste and keep perishables fresh. This review article compares edible packaging materials to synthetic ones and discusses their pollution-reducing effects. The several types of food packaging discussed in the review include those produced from polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, and composite films. The various characteristics of edible packaging are reviewed, including its barrier qualities, carrier properties, mechanical capabilities, and edibility. The carrier properties describe the capacity to transport and manage the release of active substances, and the edibility indicates acceptance of these items by the customers. Plasticizers, antimicrobials, antioxidants, and emulsifiers were included in the edible packaging to enhance the characteristics of the film. The development and implementation of edible packaging on food products from the laboratory to large-scale industrial levels, as well as their potential industrial applications in the dairy, meat, confectionary, poultry, fish, fruit, and vegetable processing sectors are addressed.

Origin of disinfection by-products in cheese

The disinfection of water, equipment and surfaces in a cheese factory is one of the factors that can originate disinfection by-products (DBPs) in cheese. This research has focused on studying cheese factories in order to evaluate the individual contribution of each step of the cheese-making process that can contribute to the presence of DBPs in cheese. Ten factories were selected according to their salting processes (brine or dry salting). Each factory was monitored by the collection of six representative samples (factory water supply, brine solution, milk, whey, curd and cheese) in which the concentrations of up to eight chemicals were detected. The study shows that contact with brine solutions containing significant levels of DBPs is the main source of these chemicals in cheese. A minor factor is the pasteurised milk used in their manufacture.