Mussel-inspired chemistry to design biodegradable food packaging films with antimicrobial properties

Environmental pollution owing to plastic waste is a growing global issue. Packaging materials generate the maximum plastic waste, weighing 141 million tonnes/year. Driven in part by pressure from progressively environmental-conscious consumers, many industries are shifting their means of packing food products to more sustainable options. To promote sustainability, the present work investigates the potential of mussel inspired polydopamine (pDA) chemistry to develop biodegradable antimicrobial food packaging materials. The food packaging films are designed using unique material combinations including polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), pDA, glycerol, and epsilon-polylysine (epsilon PL). Along with exceptional biodegradability (46% in 1 week), these films demonstrate superb antibacterial activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, as well as good thermal and mechanical properties. Additionally, these packaging films display excellent UV shielding properties that can protect the food from UV-induced photodegradation. Overall, this study uncovers numerous novel phenomena of mussel-inspired polydopamine chemistry to address major issues with plastic-based food packaging, such as biodegradability, microbial contamination of food, light induced food spoilage, and so on. (C) 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Automated summary

Environmental pollution caused by plastic waste is a growing global issue. This study explores the potential of mussel-inspired polydopamine chemistry to develop biodegradable antimicrobial food packaging materials. The packaging films exhibit exceptional biodegradability, antibacterial activity, thermal and mechanical properties, as well as excellent UV shielding properties, providing effective protection against photodegradation.