Membranes for sustainable food packaging

Membrane science and technology are currently applied in several fields. It is widely recognized that the knowledge achieved by membranologists in different areas could be exploited at industrial level to reduce the environmental impact and energy requirements of many processes. In this chapter it will be shown how membranes can be successfully used for food packaging in several cases, especially when novel systems beside traditional barrier packaging are required. In particular, Gas Separation membranes can be useful for Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP), often used in the case of fresh, respiring, products, such as fruits and vegetables; in fact, it requires films having specific permselectivity to gases as oxygen and carbon dioxide. Membranes loaded with specific substances can be used as Active releasing Packaging systems, for controlled delivery of such substances to the packed product; this concept has been already developed in medical field. Peculiar attention will be devoted to biopolymers and their application for food packaging. Also in this case, the know-how of membranologists could help to improve the properties of films produced from biopolymers (by well developed techniques as use of plasticizers, blending, loading with nanoparticles). The production of food packaging from biodegradable-non polluting sources, but which also allows better preservation of food quality and safety, is in perfect agreement with the philosophy of sustainability, since it could help reducing the