Pires Arona Figueroa, Díaz Olga, Cobos Angel, Pereira Carlos Dias
Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, College of Agriculture, Bencanta, 3045-601 Coimbra, Portugal.
Department of Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Food Science, Faculty of Sciences, Food Technology Area, Campus Terra, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 27002 Lugo, Spain.
Foods. 2024 Aug 22;13(16):2638. doi: 10.3390/foods13162638.
Packaging for food products is particularly important to preserve product quality and shelf life. The most used materials for food packaging are plastic, glass, metal, and paper. Plastic films produced based on petroleum are widely used for packaging because they have good mechanical properties and help preserve the characteristics of food. However, environmental concerns are leading the trend towards biopolymers. Films and coatings based on biopolymers have been extensively studied in recent years, as they cause less impact on the environment, can be obtained from renewable sources or by-products, are relatively abundant, have a good coating and film-forming capacity, are biodegradable and have nutritional properties that can be beneficial to human health. Whey protein-based films have demonstrated good mechanical resistance and a good barrier to gases when at low relative humidity levels, in addition to demonstrating an excellent barrier to aromatic compounds and especially oils. The use of whey proteins for films or coatings has been extensively studied, as these proteins are edible, have high nutritional value, and are biodegradable. Thus, the main objective of this document was to review new methodologies to improve the physicochemical properties of whey protein films and coatings. Importance will also be given to the combinations of whey proteins with other polymers and the development of new techniques that allow the manipulation of structures at a molecular level. The controlled release and mass transfer of new biomaterials and the improvement of the design of films and packaging materials with the desired functional properties can increase the quality of the films and, consequently, broaden their applications.
食品包装对于保持产品质量和保质期尤为重要。食品包装最常用的材料是塑料、玻璃、金属和纸张。基于石油生产的塑料薄膜因其具有良好的机械性能并有助于保持食品特性而被广泛用于包装。然而，环境问题正引领着向生物聚合物发展的趋势。近年来，基于生物聚合物的薄膜和涂层得到了广泛研究，因为它们对环境的影响较小，可以从可再生资源或副产品中获得，相对丰富，具有良好的成膜和涂膜能力，可生物降解，并且具有对人体健康有益的营养特性。基于乳清蛋白的薄膜在低相对湿度水平下表现出良好的机械抗性和气体阻隔性，此外还对芳香化合物尤其是油脂表现出优异的阻隔性。将乳清蛋白用于薄膜或涂层已得到广泛研究，因为这些蛋白质可食用、具有高营养价值且可生物降解。因此，本文件的主要目的是综述改善乳清蛋白薄膜和涂层物理化学性质的新方法。还将重视乳清蛋白与其他聚合物的组合以及能够在分子水平上操纵结构的新技术的开发。新型生物材料的控释和传质以及具有所需功能特性的薄膜和包装材料设计的改进可以提高薄膜的质量，从而拓宽其应用范围。
