Polymers from renewable resources for food packaging

Abstract

Bio-based food packaging materials (FPMs) are packaging materials obtained from renewable agricultural resources. There are some aspects of great importance that are to be considered in connection with bio-based FPMs, namely: degradation rate under specific conditions, mechanical properties variation during storage, microbial growth, release of toxic by-products, etc. This paper reviews these issues in order to estimate the suitability of polymers from renewable resources as FPMs.