Sustainable green packaging based on nanocellulose composites-present and future

Abstract

Healthy and sustainable solutions achieve remarkable interest to guarantee the freshness and quality of food products through packaging. Currently, packaging materials used in the food industries depend highly on non-degradable materials and thus cause environmental damage. Ideal packaging materials require outstanding mechanical and barrier properties without causing any damage to the packed items. In this sense, biodegradable nanomaterials with good antibacterial performance have much significance in the packaging industry. This review focuses on the growing field of nanocellulose-based packaging materials including the various cellulosic particles reinforced composites. Though cellulose-based materials report high mechanical strength, barrier resistance, and biodegradability, sometimes the antibacterial performance and industrial scaling up of the products are compromised. Therefore, the review aims in exploring the major challenges existing in the field, through a systematic but comprehensive study of existing research studies in the field.