Curtin researchers have developed eco-friendly films that when used in food packaging can prolong the shelf life of fruits such as avocados and peaches, offering huge potential benefits to fresh produce growers and retailers as well as the environment.<\/p>\n
The research, published in Composites Part B: Engineering,<\/em>\u00a0one of the prestigious journals in Composite Materials<\/em>, found polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) bionanocomposite films were biodegradable and served as a significantly more efficient barrier against water vapour, air and oxygen \u2013 all of which reduce the shelf life of foodstuffs and the rate of fungi growth.<\/p>\n Lead author PhD student Mrs Zainab Waheed Abdullah, from the School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at Curtin University, said the research team had developed novel bionanocomposite films that served as a significantly more effective barrier to conditions which contribute to the fruit \u201cgoing old\u201d more quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cUsing biopolymers, which occur in nature or are produced from natural resources like plants and animals, we manufactured bionanocomposite films as sustainable packaging material which we tested on peaches and freshly cut avocados,\u201d Mrs Abdullah said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ability of water vapour, air and oxygen to permeate bionanocomposite films reduced drastically and it clearly demonstrated the improvements of the films\u2019 barrier properties. These bionanocomposite films were also able to better withstand variations of temperatures and humidity levels.<\/p>\n \u201cFruit weight loss and colour change were recorded daily to reflect product shelf-life, revealing significantly decreased weight loss rates of 25.24 per cent and 18.05 per cent for avocados and peaches packaged by bionanocomposite films respectively, as opposed to 40.86 per cent and 27.35 per cent based on corresponding unpacked control fruits. This offers tremendous potential benefits to the food industry and in turn consumers.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the finite resources of petroleum-based polymers, which are used to make conventional plastic food packaging, as well as the huge scale of production of plastic waste exceeding 150 million tonnes annually worldwide, it is important that alternative and eco-friendly materials are developed.\u201d<\/p>\n The research was supervised by Dr Yu Dong from Curtin\u2019s School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering and was in collaboration with Professor Shaomin Liu from\u00a0Curtin\u2019s \u00a0WA School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering.<\/p>\n