Hu Shengsi, Han Lu, Yu Chenfeng, Pan Leiqing, Tu Kang
College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
Foods. 2025 May 8;14(10):1661. doi: 10.3390/foods14101661.
Food packaging is critical to delaying food spoilage, maintaining food quality, reducing food waste, and ensuring food safety. However, the environmental problems associated with petroleum-based packaging materials have led to a search for sustainable alternatives. Bio-based materials are emerging as such alternatives, but they have limitations such as low mechanical strength and poor moisture resistance. Fortunately, nature's insights guide solutions to these challenges, propelling the evolution of high-performance bio-based packaging. These new food packaging materials are characterized by impact resistance, superhydrophobicity, self-healing capabilities, dynamic controlled release, high mechanical strength, and real-time freshness monitoring. Nature-inspired strategies not only focus on enhancing material performance but also introduce innovative design concepts that effectively avoid the homogenization of food packaging and inspire researchers to develop diverse, cutting-edge solutions. Overcoming the existing problems of bio-based materials and endowing them with breakthrough properties are key drivers for their replacement of food packaging plastics. This review provides insights into the application of biomimetics in enhancing the functionality of bio-based materials and clearly articulates the key drivers for the replacement of plastic food packaging by bio-based materials. By systematically integrating existing research findings, this paper identifies the challenges facing nature-inspired food packaging innovations and points the way to their future development.
食品包装对于延缓食品变质、保持食品质量、减少食品浪费以及确保食品安全至关重要。然而，与石油基包装材料相关的环境问题促使人们寻找可持续的替代品。生物基材料正作为此类替代品出现，但它们存在诸如机械强度低和防潮性差等局限性。幸运的是，大自然的智慧为解决这些挑战提供了思路，推动了高性能生物基包装的发展。这些新型食品包装材料具有抗冲击性、超疏水性、自愈能力、动态控制释放、高机械强度以及实时新鲜度监测等特性。受自然启发的策略不仅注重提高材料性能，还引入了创新的设计理念，有效地避免了食品包装的同质化，并激励研究人员开发多样化的前沿解决方案。克服生物基材料的现有问题并赋予它们突破性性能是它们取代食品包装塑料的关键驱动力。本综述深入探讨了仿生学在增强生物基材料功能方面的应用，并清晰地阐明了生物基材料取代塑料食品包装的关键驱动力。通过系统地整合现有研究结果，本文确定了受自然启发的食品包装创新所面临的挑战，并指明了其未来发展方向。
