Nutrition and health.

Food commodities are packaged and hygienically transported to protect and preserve them from any un-acceptable alteration in quality, before reaching the end-consumer. Food packaging continues to evolve along-with the innovations in material science and technology, as well as in light of consumer’s demand. Presently, the modern consumers of competitive economies demands for food with natural quality, assured safety, minimal processing, extended shelf-life and ready-to-eat concept. Innovative packaging systems, not only ascertains transit preservation and effective distribution, but also facilitates communication at the consumer levels. The technological advances in the domain of food packaging in 21st century are mainly chaired by nanotechnology, the science of nano-materials. Nanotechnology manipulates and creates nanometer scale materials, of commercial and scientific relevance. Introduction of nanotechnology in food packaging sector has significantly addressed the food quality, safety and stability concerns. Besides, nanotechnology based packaging intimate’s consumers about the real time quality of food product. Additionally, nanotechnology has been explored for controlled release of preservatives/antimicrobials, extending the product shelf life within the package. The promising reports for nanotechnology interventions in food packaging have established this as an independent priority research area. Nanoparticles based food packages offer improved barrier and mechanical properties, along with food preservation and have gained welcoming response from market and end users. In contrary, recent advances and up-liftment in this area have raised various ethical, environmental and safety concerns. Policies and regulation regarding nanoparticles incorporation in food packaging are being reviewed. This review presents the existing knowledge, recent advances, concerns and future applications of nanotechnology in food packaging sector.

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Nanotechnology: An Untapped Resource for Food Packaging.

https://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/46342/1/document_46739_1.pdf

Micro- and nano bio-based delivery systems for food applications: In vitro behavior

Essential oil based nanoemulsions to improve the microbial quality of minimally processed fruits and vegetables: A review.

Nanotechnology is a field of research that has been stressed as a very valuable approach for the prevention and treatment of different human health disorders. This has been stressed as a delivery system for the therapeutic fight against an array of pathophysiological situations. Actually, industry has applied this technology in the search for new oral delivery alternatives obtained upon the modification of the solubility properties of bioactive compounds. Significant works have been made in the last years for testing the input that nanomaterials and nanoparticles provide for an array of pathophysiological situations. In this frame, this review addresses general questions concerning the extent to which nanoparticles offer alternatives that improve therapeutic value, while avoid toxicity, by releasing bioactive compounds specifically to target tissues affected by specific chemical and pathophysiological settings. In this regard, to date, the contribution of nanoparticles to protect encapsulated bioactive compounds from degradation as a result of gastrointestinal digestion and cellular metabolism, to enable their release in a controlled manner, enhancing biodistribution of bioactive compounds, and to allow them to target those tissues affected by biological disturbances has been demonstrated.

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Nanoparticles and Controlled Delivery for Bioactive Compounds: Outlining Challenges for New “Smart-Foods” for Health

Traditional and ayurvedic foods of Indian origin

The development of edible films and coatings from food-grade biopolymers has advanced significantly during the past decade The current state-of-the-art lies in the formulation of composite edible films and coatings from such biomolecules Composite films and coatings refer to systems where multiple biopolymers have been combined to achieve beneficial properties Carbohydrate, protein, and lipids have been preferred for developing such systems Binary films and coatings have been prepared from multiple combinations including protein–protein, carbohydrate–carbohydrate and protein-carbohydrate Similarly, ternary films and coatings have been prepared from protein–protein–carbohydrate combinations In addition, several active ingredients including antimicrobial compounds have been loaded to these systems for the preparation of functional films and coatings Therefore, the goal of this manuscript is to review the multitude of composite systems that are currently available for food packaging purposes In addition, we discuss the application of composite coatings to fruits and vegetables, dairy, meat and seafood as model food systems

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Composite edible films and coatings from food-grade biopolymers.

Roughly one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year, approximately 1.3 billion tonnes, gets lost or wasted, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). There is therefore an urgent need for new methods to preserve food. Encapsulation using nanoemulsions is a powerful technique for the protection of food-grade ingredients including vitamins, lipids, antioxidants and antimicrobial agents. In general, nanoemulsion systems demonstrate superior characteristics over conventional emulsions. This is due to their smaller droplet size, transparent optical properties, higher physical stability against droplet destabilization factors and improved bioavailability of the entrapped active ingredients. In general, nanoemulsions have been prepared with different sizes of droplets. However, a droplet size higher than 200 nm is generally preferred for food applications. Here we review nanoemulsion compositions, types of active ingredients, applications in different types of food systems, toxicological and safety aspects, and future directions.

Encapsulation of bioactive compounds using nanoemulsions

Background Food antimicrobial compounds are naturally present or purposefully added in food systems to retard microbial growth or cause microbial death to improve food safety and quality. Directly added antimicrobial compounds to food products may face several major challenges: (1) poor solubility in aqueous systems; (2) limited stability against chemical or physical degradation; (3) uncontrolled release, and (4) possible adverse effects on food sensory qualities. One approach to address these problems is the use of delivery systems. Scope and approach In this review, antimicrobial compounds are categorized into synthetic and naturally occurring. They are briefly reviewed with their properties and applications. Considering their structural and physicochemical aspects, three types of delivery system are discussed: (1) emulsion-based, (2) nanosized carrier-based, and (3) film or coating-based. Applications of antimicrobial delivery systems in food are discussed. Key findings and conclusions Compared with the direct addition of antimicrobial compounds, the use of delivery systems may protect active compounds from degradation, improve their solubility in aqueous phase, decrease their impact on food sensory qualities, and control their release. Although numerous delivery systems have shown efficacies under in vitro conditions, their antimicrobial performances need to be verified in real food systems. The availability of low-cost, food-grade carrier materials and the knowledge of interactions between delivery systems and other food components are essential to achieving industrial success for the design and use of delivery systems of antimicrobial compounds.

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Preetam Sarkar

Papers

Traditional and ayurvedic foods of Indian origin

Composite edible films and coatings from food-grade biopolymers.

Encapsulation of bioactive compounds using nanoemulsions

Delivery systems of antimicrobial compounds to food

Improvement of antimicrobial activity of sago starch/guar gum bi-phasic edible films by incorporating carvacrol and citral