Food Safety Magazine, February/March 2013

PACKAGINGlogical interest in developing more efficientways to use renewable resourceswill foster the development of novel andadvanced substrates based on vegetablebiomass. Bio-based materials for addedvalueapplications, such as biomedicaluses, drug delivery and advanced packagingsystems, could be developed bymimicking the synergy between differentbiomacromolecules that are naturallyassembled in hierarchical structures.Challenging researcher activities areexpected to take place in the field ofnanocellulose and “nanopapers,” and onprotein/polysaccharide self-assemblingnanosystems to develop hybrid andsupramolecular structures with uniqueproperties not achievable by simpleblending or through a “composite” approach.Fully bio-based, edible structureswith superhydrophobic, stimuli-responsiveproperties coupled with high barrierand mechanical properties are just someexamples of the possible functional andstructural features achievable with anovel material/manufacturing platformbased on such biomacromolecules andby using novel nano- and self-assemblingtechnology approaches. However, wemust take into account that in nature,biology accomplished much sophisticatedconstruction from molecular bottomup to visible organisms and structures.Construction of hieararchical structuresonly from a bottom-up approach couldbe very difficult to exploit at industrialscale. Fusion with the well-developed,top down-type nanofabrication shouldbe taken into consideration for morerapid development of these innovativetechnologies in added-value applications,included advanced packaging. 11 •Giovanna Buonocore, Ph.D.,is currently a researcher at theInstitute for Composites andBiomedical Materials (IMCB) –National Research Council.SalvatoreIannace, Ph.D., is a chemicalengineer and senior scientist at theIMCB and serves as adjunct professorat the University of Naples inItaly.References1. Lee, D.S., K.L. Yam and L. Piergiovanni. 2008.Food packaging science and technology. CRCPress.2. Restuccia, D., U.G. Spizzirri, O.I. Parisi, G.Cirillo, M. Curcio, F. Iemma, F. Puoci, G. Vinci andN. Picci. 2010. New EU regulation aspects andglobal market of active and intelligent packagingfor food industry applications. Food Cont21:1425–1435.3. Incoronato, A.L., G.G. Buonocore, A. Conte,M. Lavorgna and M.A. Del Nobile. 2010. Activesystems based on silver-montmorillonite nanoparticlesembedded into bio-based polymermatrices for food packaging applications. J FoodProt 73:2256–2262.4. Ukmar, T. and O. Planinšek. 2010. Acta Pharm60:373–385.5. Mehdi, A., C. Reye and R. Corriu. 2011. ChemSoc Rev 40:563–574.6. Gargiulo, N., I. Attianese, G.G. Buonocore,D. Caputo, M. Lavorgna, G. Mensitieri and M.Lavorgna. 2012. a-Tocopherol release from activepolymer films loaded with functionalized SBA-15 mesoporous silica. Micropor Mesopor Mat,DOI:10.1016/j.micromeso.2012.07.037.7. Stuart, M.A.C., W.T.S. Hyck, J. Genzer, M.Muller, C. Ober, M. Stamm, G.B. Sukhorukov,I. Szleifer, V.V. Tsukruk, M. Urban, F. Winnik,S. Zauscher, I. Luzinov and S. Minko. 2010.Emerging applications of stimuli-responsive polymermaterials. Nature Mater 9:101.8. Campos, C.A., L.N. Gerschenson and S.K.Flores. 2011. Development of edible filmsand coatings with antimicrobial activity. FoodBioprocess Technol 4:849–875.9. Mensitieri, G., E. Di Maio, G. Buonocore, I.Nedi, M. Oliviero, L. Sansone and S. Iannace.2011. Processing and shelf life issues of selectedfood packaging materials and structures fromrenewable resources. Trends Food Sci Technol22:72–80.10. Oliviero, M., E. Di Maio and S. Iannace. 2010.Effect of molecular structure on film blowingability of thermoplastic zein. J Appl Polym Sci115(1):277–287.11. Ariga, K., J.P. Hill, M.V. Lee, A. Vinu, R. Charvetand S. Acharya 2008. Challenges and breakthroughsin recent research on self-assembly. SciTechnol Adv Mater 9:014109.Is your surface testingall it’s cracked up to be?You can’t afford even a twinge of doubt when it comes touncovering any hidden contaminants. Get cracking withPuritan environmental swabs — known to deliver superiorcollection for reliable results. Our top-quality swabs come invarious sizes, shapes, and tip fibers, with and without media.To request free samples of environmental swabs,scan the code at left or visit our website atpuritanmedproducts.com/enviro.800-321-2313 • puritanmedproducts.comPuritan Medical Products Company LLC, Guilford, Maine 04443-0149 USAAn affiliate of Hardwood Products Company ISO 9001:2008facebook.com/PuritanUSA twitter.com/PuritanUSA linkedin.com/company/PuritanUSAUS MANUFACTUREDF e b r u a r y • M a r c h 2 0 1 3 45