EDIBLE PACKAGING: The Future of Packaging
Presentation by Aninda Banerjee
Department of Packaging Technology
Birla Institute of Technology
Under Supervision of Mentor Sima Sutar
Table of Content
• INTRODUCTION: CONPECT OF EDIBLE PACKAGING.
• WHAT IS EDIBLE PACKAGING.
• WHY EDIBLE PACKAGING.
• HOW EDIBLE PACKAGING IS MADE.
• PROPERTIES AND SHORT COMINGS.
• REVIEWS.
INTRODUCTION: CONCEPT OF EDIBLE
PACKAGING
Edible packaging and it’s concept is ground breaking invention of
this decade and is going to change packaging science &
technology and is also expected to bring revolution in food and
consumables packaging industries in the coming decade. As the
name suggests “edible packaging” is kind of packaging that can
be consumed, and currently lot of research and development is
being carried out to make it more affordable and available for
targeted demographics, and also economical for industries to
adopt this form of packaging. Various kinds of packaging
materials are being used to produce edible packaging.
Example use cases for edible packaging: Edible Water Bottle,
Edible Food Wraps, Pharmaceutical Etc.
WHAT IS EDIBLE PACKAGING!
Edible films and coatings may be arbitrarily defined as thin layers
of material that can be eaten by the consumer as part of the
whole food product. When a packaging like a film, a sheet, a thin
layer or a coating is an integral part of a food and is eaten with
it, then it is qualified as “edible packaging”.
It is a biopolymer designed to contain and protect the food from
spoilage and to have the ability to biodegrade like the food it
contains.
WHY EDIBLE PACKAGING
As plastic packaging has crept gradually into our lives,
replacing metal, paper, and glass containers, critics about it
have risen, calling out its harmfulness to the environment.
Even though recycling plants are established globally, only 14
percent of the plastic is recycled. This has resulted huge
pollution levels and is and should a matter of concern as it is
taking a huge tole on nature and is causing land, air and also
water pollution lots of ocean species are suffering because of
our plastic waste, even the recycling of plastics is not as
green as we think, it is quite resource intensive requiring
water, energy, chemicals etc. just to recycle.
Food Industry is one of the top utilizers in terms of use of plastic packaging and causing much harm
to nature, even though bio degradable plastic packaging can be used it is comparatively way more
expensive than general plastics same goes for paper bags as thousands of trees are being cut down for
production of paper. Research confirms that edible packaging is the most effective method of food
packaging.
HOW IS EDIBLE PACKAGING IS MADE?
Biopolymers are: they are polymeric biomolecules, in other words,
they are large structures made from small units linked together and
produced by living organisms, like proteins, DNA, etc.
There 2 types of edible packaging
The difference between the two is that films are
1. Films first formed separately and then applied to the
food product, while coatings are formed and
2. Coating applied directly to the food. They can be
superficial coatings or layers between
compartments of the same food product.
Polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids are biopolymers used to fabricate edible films or coatings as packaging.
While the polysaccharide (starch and derivatives, gums, etc.) and proteins (gelatine, gluten, etc.) offer
edible films with satisfactory mechanical and optical properties the creation of edible films and coatings that
serve as edible packaging is done after solubilization, dispersion, or emulsification of a film-forming polymer
in a solvent (water, ethanol, organic acid, etc.); which is then applied directly on food or support with the
evaporation of the solvent.
HOW IS EDIBLE PACKAGING IS MADE?
Classification of edible food packaging material
PROPERTIES AND SHORT COMINGS:
These are the properties that edible packaging must have or is
considered/expected to have:
Should be taste less and texture should be very thin so that it can be
ignored
In case of it has some tase should be designed in such a way that it goes
well with tase of the food.
Should be transparent so that the content food can be visually verified
before consumption.
Should have reasonably good shelf life.
As it is in early development phase it has some major drawbacks:
Edible packaging is more sensitive to different environments and requires careful
treatment during storage and shipping.
Some amount of non edible packaging is still required for hygienic reasons.
REVIEW
Although, edible packaging might have a long way to go before
becoming the norm rather than the exception; it represents a
far better sustainable alternative to single-use food packaging.
At current stage it is helping the food industry by reducing the
amount of non biodegradable packaging required. It’s already a
well adopted procedure in developed countries and will soon be
adopted by the entire world.
REFERENCES
• Ahmad, V., Khan, M.S., Jamal, Q.M.S., Alzohairy, M.A., Al Karaawi, M.A. and Siddiqui, M.U.,
2017. Antimicrobial potential of bacteriocins: in therapy, agriculture and food preservation. Int. J.
Antimicrob. Agents., 49, 1-11.
• Ahvenainen, R., 2003. Active and intelligent packaging: an introduction. In Novel food packaging
techniques.
• A Review of Edible Packaging for Foods Pooja Saklani1, Siddhnath1, Sambit Kishor Das2 and
Shiv Mohan Singh3*
• Reference websites used: Research Gate, Kolab-tree, Wikipedia, Google scholar.
Bibliography
I have learned a lot of new concepts about my subject of study while making this
presentation and I am highly grateful to my mentor and teacher Sima Sutar for providing
me this wonderful opportunity to make this presentation. Thankyou and have a nice day.
END OF PRESENTATION.
Presented by Aninda Banerjee.
