A material that could keep food fresher and make food packaging more environmentally friendly might come from a food itself. A European project is leveraging the qualities of chitin and chitosan from shrimp shells to conserve food wrapped in plastic. Then, after its use, the packaging biodegrades, reports a news release from Nofima, a food [...]
Polymer Film Changes Color to Signal Different Packaging Conditions
November 1, 2012 By 1 Comment
A polymer developed by researchers at Rice University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will change color inside of a package, indicating that the conditions inside have changed and the food is spoiled. The scientists made a metamaterial, comprising several layers, out of the polymers that, when exposed to certain ions in the environment, change [...]
Combination of Polymer Films, Salt Keep Food Driest
October 26, 2012 By 1 Comment
Researchers in Germany have experimented with thin films, made from polymers, used in food packaging and mixed them with different types of salts to discover which composites absorb the highest amount of water. The scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials in Bremen, Germany, used films from the following polymers: polypropylene [...]
FDA Bans BPA Already Taken Out of Baby Products
July 19, 2012 By 2 Comments
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned the plastic additive bisphenol A (BPA) from baby bottles and sippy cups years after the manufacturers voluntarily stopped using the chemical in the product. In a seemingly contradictory move, the plastics industry, not consumer advocacy groups, made the request for the ban. In 2011, the American [...]
Sustainable Packaging Gets a Boost With Polymers
June 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Biopolymers will become important in Europe over the next three years as a key ingredient in developing fully sustainable packaging and wrapping for fresh produce to extend its shelf life, improve quality, and reduce waste. European countries are under a directive from the European Union to prevent food waste. So, a group of European companies [...]
Plastic-Free Lives: Sensible or Unnecessary?
June 12, 2012 By 2 Comments
Over the past few years, the public has grown more concerned about chemicals in plastics and food packaging. Some consumers have gone to the point of eliminating plastic from their lives, substituting it with glass, ceramic, terracotta, and paper. Chemicals of most concern are bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, both of which have been linked [...]
BPA Substitutes Could Cause Health Effects, Too
May 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Updated regulatory screening for endocrine disruptors is needed on a particular alternative to BPA (bisphenol A) because the substitute may have similar health effects as the latter chemical, and people can have significant exposure to it, some scientists are saying. Manufacturers put BPA into plastics, and paper companies use it in the ink of heat-sensitive [...]
Binding Polymers Create New Properties for Paper
April 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Italian scientists have invented a process by which nanoparticles form a polymer that binds with paper fibers to create new forms of paper that can either be waterproof, magnetic, or antibacterial. The new paper, reports Jennifer Hicks in Forbes, is still paper — one can write on it, fold it, and print with it — [...]
