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<p>The goal of this study is to develop sustainable packaging systems using low profitable biomass wastes from residual crops and to enhance food safety and quality of food products by bio-polymeric films incorporated with natural antimicrobials. An ancillary goal is to train minority professionals in sustainable food packaging field.</p><p> The specific objectives of the proposed research are:</p><p><ol><li>To extract the potentially value-added bio-polymeric components such as cellulose and protein in types of bioplastic.</li><li> To develop the sustainable food packaging systems using extracted fractions, and its evaluation of mechanical, barrier, and thermal as a novel green packaging material.</li><li> To develop multiple applications of new packaging films with selected natural antimicrobials for securing safety and quality of agricultural food products.</li><li> To foster minority professionals in sustainable food packaging systems through collaborative team works among investigators and institutions. </li></ol></p>
This research focuses on the sustainable, transformative, and interdisciplinary science and technology demanded from global communities. The ultimate goal in this research is to use a novel sustainable and transformable extraction process, called "melt compounding process", for converting bio-polymeric components derived from biomass wastes of local residual crops to develop value-added food packaging systems equipped with advanced antimicrobial active food packaging technology. Besides, the proposed project will bring in intensive educational opportunities to minority students and rural small business stakeholders through collaboration across the states and institutions. This research includes: Stage-1 Extracting the potentially value-added bio-polymeric components such as cellulose and protein in types of bio-polymeric food packaging materials; Stage-2 Developing the sustainable food packaging systems using functional active ingredients, and its evaluation of mechanical, barrier, and thermal as a novel green packaging material; Stage-3 Developing antimicrobial bio-polymeric packaging films to enhance the safety and quality of food products; and Stage-4: Fostering minority professionals and accelerating creative rural small business in the field of food packaging. The exploration of enhanced bio-polymeric fractions in this research will, in the future, permit new green packaging systems to be developed for a variety of high-demand sustainable packaging products resulting in a reduction in the environmental impact of traditional packaging materials.