A prototype for antimicrobial food packaging has been created by researchers at Australia’s Deakin University as a way to extend the shelf life of products without causing food wastage and illness.
Led by PhD candidate Agnes Mukurumbira, the study sought to investigate the effect of plant-based antimicrobials in eliminating the growth of bacteria and fungi on foods.
She found that native Australian essential oils — specifically Tasmanian mountain pepper and lemon myrtle — were the key to developing a suitable prototype.
“From the findings of my first study, we now know that these essential oils are potent antimicrobials against common food spoilage and pathogenic bacteria and fungi,” the researcher at Deakin’s Consumer, Analytical, Safety and Sensory (CASS) Food Research Center said.
“It turns out their activity is better than tea tree oil, which has historically been used extensively as an antimicrobial. We also stumbled upon the fact that not only are these oils antimicrobial in the liquid phase, but their volatiles, or gases they release, are equally as effective.”
Following this, Mukurumbira and her team will work on creating packaging that integrates the encapsulated essential oils into biodegradable plastic formulations. If successful, these will release the essential oils, ensuring prolonged product shelf life by killing or inhibiting the bacteria and fungi growing on food.
Using native Australian essential oils to develop safer, more sustainable food packaging
Bacteria and fungi growth causes over 1.3 billion tons of food waste and 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses every year. Antimicrobial food packaging materials are essential to combating such levels of waste.
The oils were chosen for sustainability reasons as well as a growing demand for natural products. Upon confirmation of their antimicrobial activity, Mukurumbira and her team then addressed the oils’ chemical and physical instability and strong odor through the ‘encapsulation’ technique.
“Encapsulation is essentially trapping the oil in some sort of wall material,” Mukurumbira clarified. “We successfully encapsulated the oils giving them stability and allowing for controlled release.”
Alongside Mukurumbira, her PhD supervisors Dr Snehal Jadhav, Professor Russell Keast, Associate Professor Robert Shellie and Swinburne University’s Associate Professor Enzo Palombo were also involved in the project.
Mukurumbira has a background in food science and technology, having studied at the Durban University of Technology in South Africa before attending Deakin University.
Previously, she looked into how starch nanocrystals could improve the physicochemical properties of biodegradable food packaging across a variety of factors, including strength and durability as well as water and oxygen permeability.
