Scientists developed a new potential nano-based solution that could improve food packaging. Bacteria-killing properties inspired the new concept in the wings of cicadas.
According to the experts, the new food packaging could increase the shelf life of both the container and the food inside and reduce the waste that is being contributed by excess and rejected food choices either from industrial productions or from home.
The study carried out by a team of scholars from Japan and Australia resulted in developing a nanotechnology-based packaging technique that could eliminate 70 percent of the bacteria and maintain its efficacy even when transferred to other plastic-based containers.
Nanopackging: Solution to Food Waste and Longer Shelf Life
Close-up Photo of Green Dragonfly.
According to a report by PhysOrg, almost 30 percent of the food production targeted to human consumption effortlessly becomes waste. Batches of food that scale to shipments are even thrown out when just a small rate of bacteria was detected in at least one of the food units produced.
The new study focuses on how global food wastes can be cut while keeping the goods at their best quality and free from bacterial contamination. The interest of the study is to help not just households, but also the larger food storage sectors in the field of the food production industry, particularly in the meat and dairy enterprises.
According to the authors, the food packages could maintain the grade of the goods, extend their shelf life, and improve the safety and integrity of both producers and consumers on an industrial scale.
RMIT University's School of Science expert and lead author of the study Elena Ivanova explained that their team gained success ar developing a synthetic material for food packaging through applying a technique already existing in nature.
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Artificial Nanotexture Inspired by Cicada and Dragonfly Wings
The research revolved around the biological aspects embedded in the wings of cicadas and dragonflies. Ivanova said that the wings are known to have highly-efficient bacteria killers that could work effectively as a solution but added that, like other natural principles, replicating what the wings can do is challenging.
The experts were able to construct a nanotexture that mimics the natural capacity of the insect wings to eliminate bacteria. In addition, the effect is still retained even if the nanomaterial is printed in other plastic-based containers.
The nanoresearch on the cicada wing serves as a large stepping stone for a "natural, non-chemical, and antibacterial packaging solution" that can be utilized in the food and manufacturing industries.
RMIT scholars in Australia collaborated with Japan's Tokyo Metropolitan University and Mitsubishi Chemical's The KAITEKI Institute.
The nanotextures replicated the nanopillars laid on the surface of the insect wings. The antibacterial capacity of the nanomaterials was tested through RMIT's Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility. After concluding what material works best, the samples were then relayed to the collaborators in Japan to reproduce the nanotextures in plastic polymers.
The study was published in the journal ACS Applied Nano Materials, titled "Nanopillar Polymer Films as Antibacterial Packaging Materials."
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