Recent Advances in Sustainable Antimicrobial Food Packaging: Insights into Release Mechanisms, Design Strategies, and Applications in the Food Industry

Hierarchical chitin and chitosan-derived heterostructural nanocomposites: From interdisciplinary applications to a sustainable vision

Natural biopolymeric nanomaterials are highly prioritized and indispensable for industrial production and human use due to their exceptional features. In recent years, the development of bioinspired materials has rapidly advanced, driven by their outstanding qualities and versatile applications. Among these, chitin and chitosan stand out for their biodegradability, biocompatibility, and hierarchical structures, captivating researchers worldwide. In order to ameliorate the characteristics of these materials, integrating them with complementary components such as polymers, organics, and nanomaterials to create multifunctional chitinous bio-composites has become increasingly important. This review highlights recent progress in the development of these composite biomaterials, emphasizing biomimetic design, synthesis methodologies, and applications in drug delivery, cancer therapy, tissue engineering, wound healing, antimicrobial activity, food safety, natural bio-adhesives, and various industrial uses, alongside their ecological balance on Earth within a sustainable vision. Additionally, the discussion also addresses ongoing challenges and explores potential prospects for advancing these innovative biocomposites.

Advanced antimicrobial surfaces in cellulose-based food packaging

This critical review provides a comprehensive framework for selecting engineered colloidal and nanostructured systems for cellulose-based food packaging. Meta-analysis was used as a methodological approach to categorize them according to antimicrobial agents, coating methods, and synergistic effects against a broad spectrum of microorganisms. The most frequent substrate is flexible packaging paper (35-70 g/m2, uncalendered), often intended for food wrapping. Among antimicrobial agents, chitosan-based coatings are a common choice-often combined with essential oils-being particularly effective against Gram-positive bacteria (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Bacillus subtilis). This is attributed to electrostatic interactions between the polysaccharide's protonated -NH3+ groups and teichoic acids within bacterial cell walls. Inorganic metal nanoparticles, such as ZnO nanorods and Ag nanoparticles, are broadly effective by compromising the membranes of various foodborne pathogens-including Bacillus cereus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Terpenoid- or phenolic-rich essential oils-commonly delivered in emulsions or encapsulated in host-guest β-cyclodextrin complexes-inhibit the growth of yeasts and molds, besides some common bacteria when grafted onto bleached paper. Synergistic effects have been observed with complex coatings such as chitosan combined with CuONPs. Despite their promising performance, the widespread industrial adoption of cellulose-based active packaging in the food sector requires addressing not only antimicrobial activity, but also barrier properties and feasible methods to functionalize the paper surface (e.g., bar coating). These challenges, often overlooked, are critically assessed herein. All considered, further studies are required to address the challenges of cellulosic antimicrobial materials in a holistic manner to accelerate its large-scale implementation in the food sector.

A Review on Replacing Food Packaging Plastics with Nature-Inspired Bio-Based Materials

Food packaging is critical to delaying food spoilage, maintaining food quality, reducing food waste, and ensuring food safety. However, the environmental problems associated with petroleum-based packaging materials have led to a search for sustainable alternatives. Bio-based materials are emerging as such alternatives, but they have limitations such as low mechanical strength and poor moisture resistance. Fortunately, nature's insights guide solutions to these challenges, propelling the evolution of high-performance bio-based packaging. These new food packaging materials are characterized by impact resistance, superhydrophobicity, self-healing capabilities, dynamic controlled release, high mechanical strength, and real-time freshness monitoring. Nature-inspired strategies not only focus on enhancing material performance but also introduce innovative design concepts that effectively avoid the homogenization of food packaging and inspire researchers to develop diverse, cutting-edge solutions. Overcoming the existing problems of bio-based materials and endowing them with breakthrough properties are key drivers for their replacement of food packaging plastics. This review provides insights into the application of biomimetics in enhancing the functionality of bio-based materials and clearly articulates the key drivers for the replacement of plastic food packaging by bio-based materials. By systematically integrating existing research findings, this paper identifies the challenges facing nature-inspired food packaging innovations and points the way to their future development.

Emerging Trends and Future Prospects of Peptide-Based Hydrogels: Revolutionizing Food Technology Applications

Peptide-based hydrogels (PHs) are versatile materials with considerable potential in food technology. Advances in synthesis techniques, such as self-assembly, click chemistry, enzymatic cross-linking, and co-assembly with polymers, have improved their production efficiency and scalability. Derived from natural amino acids, PHs are biocompatible, biodegradable, and responsive to environmental factors like pH and temperature. In food technology, encapsulation and controlled release of bioactive compounds enhance nutrient stability, flavor preservation, and bioavailability. PHs serve as texture modifiers, improve product consistency, and possess antimicrobial properties for food preservation by inhibiting spoilage and pathogens. Their biodegradability supports eco-friendly practices and sustainable packaging, including edible films and coatings that extend shelf life. Adjustable properties such as ionic strength make PHs adaptable to specific needs. PHs also show potential in developing advanced food equipment, including 3D printers and encapsulation systems, promoting efficiency and sustainability. This review emphasizes that PHs offer innovative, sustainable solutions to enhance food functionality, quality, and safety, with broad applications in food processing and preservation.

Emerging Initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition Nanocoatings for Sustainable Food and Agriculture

Initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) has emerged as a versatile technique for developing functional nanocoatings that address critical food and agricultural challenges. This review highlights the unique capacities of iCVD nanocoatings, which enable precise engineering of surface properties, such as targeted cellular and molecular interactions, antimicrobial activity, and fouling resistance. In addition, the solvent-free nature of iCVD is particularly advantageous for coating sensitive materials and complex geometries commonly used across food and agriculture applications. This review provides an overview of iCVD's chemistry, deposition mechanisms, and ability to control nanocoating morphology and composition. Key applications discussed include iCVD nanocoatings for food quality monitoring, pathogen detection, antimicrobial food packaging, biomass extraction, and irrigation water purification. By summarizing recent advancements and identifying emerging trends, this review showcases the potential of iCVD as a powerful tool for developing sustainable, nanoenabled solutions in modern food and agriculture production.

Research Progress on Cereal Protein-Based Films: A Review

Recently, to address plastic pollution and food safety issues, the development of biodegradable materials has become a research hotspot. Cereal proteins have been widely used in natural biodegradable packaging films due to their excellent hydrophobicity and film-forming ability, including wheat gluten protein, zein, rice protein, and oat protein. Although pure cereal protein-based films have the disadvantages of insufficient stability and lack of functionality, a variety of measures have been taken to enhance the performance of the films to expand the application range of cereal protein-based films. This Review briefly reviews the fabrication process of cereal protein-based films. The interaction of various additives (plasticizers, biopolymers, nanoparticles, bioactive ingredients, and indicators) with cereal proteins is highlighted. Four methods for fabricating cereal protein-based films (casting, extrusion, electrospinning, and 3D printing) are summarized. Additionally, the impact of several novel technologies on the performance improvement of cereal protein-based films, including ultrasonic, cold plasma, and high-pressure treatment, is discussed. Finally, the application scenarios of cereal protein-based films in active and smart food packaging are discussed, and the challenges of stability and safety of these packaging films are pointed out. In conclusion, this Review identifies the development potential of cereal protein-based films in food packaging fields.

Contributing factors to the migration of antimicrobials in active packaging films

Antimicrobial active packaging plays a key role in food quality and safety. The addition of antimicrobial agents in packaging production aims to release these agents from film to food, thereby preventing, reducing, or eliminating the contamination caused by pathogens or food spoilage microorganisms. This review provides an overview of the antimicrobial active packaging and gives an insight of the antimicrobials that have been used to manufacture antimicrobial active films. Additionally, it discusses the findings of studies that have developed active films, identifying the related factors with the release of antimicrobials from film to packaged food, as well as their possible mechanisms of release. Four interrelated factors that affect the release of antimicrobial agents have been identified. The first one addresses the film properties, the second one corresponds to food characteristics, the third one environmental condition, and the last one the attributes of the antimicrobial agent itself. There have been reported two mechanisms for explaining the antimicrobial release. The first mechanism addresses the water as the main regulator, and the second implies a natural diffusion of antimicrobials. The identification of related factors with the release can contribute to optimizing new methods in the design of antimicrobial active packaging.

Molecular mechanism underlying coencapsulating chrysophanol and hesperidin in octenylsuccinated β-glucan aggregates for improving their corelease and bioaccessibility

Chrysophanol and hesperidin are natural nutraceuticals that exhibit synergistic bioactivities, but their hydrophobicity limits their applications, and it is unclear whether coencapsulation can improve their solubility and release behaviors. The objective of this work was to coencapsulate chrysophanol and hesperidin by octenylsuccinated β-glucan aggregates (OSβG-Agg) and to reveal how coencapsulation improves their release and bioaccessibility. Mechanisms underlying the hypothesis of beneficial effects in coloading, corelease and bioaccessibility were revealed. The solubilization of OSβG-Agg was due to hydrogen-bonding among β-glucan moieties of OSβG and hydroxyl groups of chrysophanol and hesperidin and hydrophobic interactions among octenyl chains of OSβG and hydrophobic moieties of chrysophanol and hesperidin. Structural analyses confirmed the hypothesis that chrysophanol molecules were nearly embedded deeper into the interior of hydrophobic domains, and most of hesperidin molecules were incorporated into the exterior of the hydrophobic domains of OSβG-Agg due to the strength of these interactions, but they interacted in OSβG-Agg with a dense and compact structure rather than existing in isolation. The combined effects delayed their release and enhanced their bioaccessibility because of dynamic equilibrium between the favorable interactions and unfavorable structural erosion and relaxation of OSβG-Agg. Overall, OSβG-Agg is effective at codelivering hydrophobic phenolics for functional foods and pharmaceuticals.

Preparation of edible antibacterial films based on corn starch /carbon nanodots for bioactive food packaging

Packaging plays an important role in protecting food from environmental impacts. However, traditional petroleum-based packaging has difficulty in meeting the antimicrobial and antioxidant requirements of prepared foods. This study introduced carbon dots (CDs), prepared by using carrot as a precursor, into corn starch (CS) to construct a bio-friendly composite film with high freshness retention properties. The scavenging of DPPH radicals reached 92.77 % at a CDs concentration of 512 µg/mL, and the antimicrobial activity of CS/5% CDs against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was increased to 99.9 %. Notably, the homogeneous doping of CDs creates a dense surface and high carbon content inside the film, which promotes the elasticity and thermal stability of the composite film. Finally, we encapsulated deep-fried meatballs in CS-CDs films. The results showed that the CS-CDs films effectively protected the quality of deep-fried meatballs, and have excellent potential for application in food preservation.

A sustainable packaging composite of waste paper and poly(butylene succinate-co-lactate) with high biodegradability

The challenge of global climate change has drawn people's attention to the issue of carbon emissions. Reducing the use of petroleum-derived materials and increasing the use of biodegradable materials is a current focus of research, especially in the packaging materials industry. This study focused on the use of environmentally friendly plastics and waste paper as the main materials for packaging films. Poly(butylene succinate-co-lactate) (PBSL) was modified with maleic anhydride (MA) to form a biobased compatibilizer (MPBSL), which was then blended with a mixture (WPS) of waste-paper powder (WP) and silica aerogel powder (SP) to form the designed composite (MPBSL/WPS). The modification of PBSL with MA improved interfacial adhesion between PBSL and WPS. The structure, thermal, and mechanical properties, water vapor/oxygen barrier, toxicity, freshness, and biodegradability of MPBSL/WPS films were evaluated. Compared with the PBSL/WP film, the MPBSL/WPS film exhibited increased tensile strength at break of 4-13.5 MPa, increased initial decomposition loss at 5 wt% of 14-35 °C, and decreased water/oxygen permeabilities of 18-105 cm3/m2·d·Pa. In the water absorption test, the MPBSL/WPS film displayed about 2-6 % lower water absorption than that of the PBSL/WP film. In the cytocompatibility test, both MPBSL/WPS and PBSL/WP membrane were nontoxic. In addition, compared with PBSL/WP film and the control, the MPBSL/WPS film significantly reduced moisture loss, extended the shelf life, and prevented microbial growth in vegetable and meat preservation tests. Both MPBSL/WPS and PBSL/WP films were biodegradable in a 60-day soil biodegradation test; the degradation rate was 50 % when the WP or WPS content was 40 wt%. Our findings indicate that the composites would be suitable for environmentally sustainable packaging materials.

Thermal-Driven Curcumin Release Film with Dual-Mode Synergistic Antibacterial Behavior for Efficient Tangerine Preservation

Antimicrobial packing showed great potential in extending the shelf life of food. However, developing a new biocomposite film with an intelligent and efficient antimicrobial performance is still desirable. Herein, a Fe-MoOx encapsulated with curcumin (Cur) filled chitosan-based composite film (CCF films) was prepared by solvent casting method. The total color differences of the CCF films were less than 30%, and satisfactory surface color, transparency, hydrophobicity, and thermal stability were also obtained. Besides, the UV-light/water/oxygen barrier capability and mechanical properties were enhanced with the incorporation of Cur@Fe-MoOx. Moreover, CCF films showed photothermal performance and thermal-controlled curcumin release ability, which endowed the CCF0.15 film with excellent antibacterial capability toward E. coli (≥99.95%) and S. aureus (≥99.96%) due to the synergistic antibacterial effect. Fe-MoOx exhibited high cell viability and less than 5% hemolysis even under the concentration of 500 μg mL-1. Based on those unique characteristics, the CCF0.15 film was chosen for tangerine preservation. The CCF0.15 film could prolong the shelf life of tangerine by at least 9 days compared with the unpacking group, and the tangerines could maintain the freshness characteristics over a 24 day storage period. Such thermal-mediated antibacterial film proposed by our work showed promising potential in food packaging.

Ions-Induced Alginate Gelation According to Elemental Analysis and a Combinatorial Approach

This study considers the potential of elemental analysis of polysaccharide ionotropic gels in elucidating the junction zones for different divalent cations. The developed algorithm ensures the correct separation of contributions from physically adsorbed and structure-forming ionic compounds, with the obtained results scaled to alginate C12 block. Possible versions of chain association into dimers and their subsequent integration into flat junction zones were analyzed within the framework of the "egg-box" model. The application of combinatorial analysis made it possible to derive theoretical relations to find the probability of various types of egg-box cell occurrences for alginate chains with arbitrary monomeric units ratio μ = M/G, which makes it possible to compare experimental data for alginates of different origins. Based on literature data and obtained chemical formulas, the possible correspondence of concrete biopolymer cells to those most preferable for filling by alkaline earth cations was established. The identified features of elemental composition suggest the formation of composite hydrated complexes with the participation of transition metal cations. The possibility of quantitatively assessing ordered secondary structures formed due to the physical sorption of ions and molecules from environment, correlating with the sorption capabilities of Me2+ alginate, was established.