Packaging is the front-line warrior in today’s efforts to improve food safety with effective, environmentally sound products.
What if technology could guarantee that the package of cold cuts you just bought were free from Listeria and other harmful bacteria? What if technology could ensure that the antimicrobials in packaging didn’t leach onto your spinach? This technology is now here.
Researchers from the Canadian FIBRE Network have developed two paper based technologies that can now do the above without using chemicals.
Dr. Mansel Griffiths at University of Guelph has embedded bacteriophages—viruses that eat specific bacteria—directly into packaging products. Packaging, like the paper that separates slices of cold meats, can contain phages, which work by reproducing inside their target bacteria and killing them.
Dr. Huining Xiao at University of New Brunswick has bonded antimicrobial polymers onto starches to ensure that the former don’t leach from the paper-based packaging they are embedded in to contaminate food. This packaging is promising as a barrier against bacteria such as E.coli and Salmonella aureus.
Both technologies are currently being commercialised.
Click here for source (FPSolutions)
Photo: Sentinel Bioactive Paper Network
