Page 38 - Food&Drink magazine July 2021

PACKAGING
Packaging to combat foodborne disease
Foodborne diseases are a major global concern that put significant social and economic burdens on society. Food microbiologist Dr Philip Button looks at how nanotechnology applied to food packaging can be one solution.
ACCORDING to the World Health Organisation, 600 million people get sick from foodborne diseases each year with roughly 420,000 related deaths. The economic impact of associated productivity and health costs for low – and middle-income countries alone is estimated at a staggering US$110 billion.
Reducing foodborne diseases would result in substantial positive effects, from both a public health and economic perspective.
As professionals in food manufacturing, we have an added responsibility and duty to develop and implement novel concepts to address these issues.
Enter nanotechnology, as a potential conceptual solution. Food packaging to combat foodborne diseases, is, like many areas of food science and food technology, rapidly advancing.
With smart solutions and antimicrobial materials that may also be used as sensors, the packaging of tomorrow will provide more than simple product protection by a physical barrier. Nano materials are more effective than traditional packaging materials and passively afford improved product protection by way, for example, of reduced gas permeability thus reducing microbial growth.
Examples of carbon-based nano materials are fullerene, nanotubes, graphene, and diamond-like carbon structures. They are typically differentiated on their station dimensionality, which as a result afford different properties and different applications.
If we look at two-dimensional carbon nanotubes as an example, we can see the multidisciplinary approach to developing innovative real- world solutions, in this case between electrochemistry and microbiology. Various electrochemical properties are key elements in the likelihood of that nanomaterial being better able to fulfil important criteria of smart packaging sensors.
38 | Food&Drink business | July 2021 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au