Karydis-Messinis Andreas, Kyriakaki Christina, Triantafyllou Eleni, Tsirka Kyriaki, Gioti Christina, Gkikas Dimitris, Nesseris Konstantinos, Exarchos Dimitrios A, Farmaki Spyridoula, Giannakas Aris E, Salmas Constantinos E, Matikas Theodore E, Moschovas Dimitrios, Avgeropoulos Apostolos
Department of Material Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
DODONI SA, 1 Tagmatarchi Kostaki, Eleousa, 45500 Ioannina, Greece.
Gels. 2024 Apr 9;10(4):254. doi: 10.3390/gels10040254.
The increasing global concern over plastic waste and its environmental impact has led to a growing interest in the development of sustainable packaging alternatives. This study focuses on the innovative use of expired dairy products as a potential resource for producing edible packaging materials. Expired milk and yogurt were selected as the primary raw materials due to their protein and carbohydrate content. The extracted casein was combined with various concentrations of chitosan, glycerol, and squid ink, leading to the studied samples. Chitosan was chosen due to its appealing characteristics, including biodegradability, and film-forming properties, and casein was utilized for its superior barrier and film-forming properties, as well as its biodegradability and non-toxic nature. Glycerol was used to further improve the flexibility of the materials. The prepared hydrogels were characterized using various instrumental methods, and the findings reveal that the expired dairy-based edible packaging materials exhibited promising mechanical properties comparable to conventional plastic packaging and improved barrier properties with zero-oxygen permeability of the hydrogel membranes, indicating that these materials have the potential to effectively protect food products from external factors that could compromise quality and shelf life.
全球对塑料垃圾及其环境影响的日益关注，引发了人们对可持续包装替代品开发的兴趣日益浓厚。本研究聚焦于将过期乳制品创新用作生产可食用包装材料的潜在资源。由于过期牛奶和酸奶含有蛋白质和碳水化合物，因此被选为主要原料。提取的酪蛋白与不同浓度的壳聚糖、甘油和鱿鱼墨混合，制成了所研究的样品。选择壳聚糖是因其具有吸引人的特性，包括生物可降解性和成膜性能，而酪蛋白则因其优异的阻隔和成膜性能、生物可降解性和无毒性质而被利用。甘油用于进一步提高材料的柔韧性。使用各种仪器方法对制备的水凝胶进行了表征，结果表明，基于过期乳制品的可食用包装材料具有与传统塑料包装相当的良好机械性能，并且水凝胶膜的氧气透过率为零，阻隔性能得到改善，这表明这些材料有潜力有效保护食品免受可能影响质量和保质期的外部因素影响。
