Polymers for food packaging materials: the potentiality of the NMR spectroscopy

Food packaging materials can be contaminated by many substances deriving from: i) a part of packaging or processing production; ii) impurities presence in the raw materials; iii) degradation and reaction processes. Also the food irradiation treatment, used in avoiding sprouting and contamination by bacteria, has implications on the integrity of the plastic materials, whose consequence is to release small molecules as potential food contaminants.[1] As a consequence, due to migration processes non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) can affect the quality and safety of packaged food[2]. To overcome this problem the material science propose active polymers enriched with molecules and macromolecules having antioxidants functionality, as additives to improve the food preservation. This work propose an overview on the analysis of polymers for food packaging materials by means of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, (1H, 13C and heteronuclear 2D NMR experiments). The methodology can be applied to synthetic fossil-derived materials, to renewable bioplastic from natural sources, and to the new bioplastics deriving from wastes as byproducts from food and agricultural industries.