Fresh thinking: Edible food wraps
Keeping food fresher for longer means less food waste, but typically requires some kind of plastic packaging. Doing what’s best for the planet can feel like a minefield. Luckily, there’s innovative solutions are being developed to help us out of these Catch-22s. In this case: sustainable food coatings.
A new study, published in June this year, reveals a biodegradable antimicrobial coating that is sprayed onto items of fruit and veg, and simply rinsed off with water. Made primarily from an edible fibre called pullulan, alongside other ingredients such as citric acid, thyme oil and nisin (a bacterially-produced compound), it is deemed safe for human consumption.
Antimicrobial agents not your thing? No worries. There’s a similar process that uses silk to achieve the same goal. Edible, tasteless, odourless, transparent, and biodegradable, it has a lot going for it. Unlike silk used in the fashion industry that requires killing the caterpillars, this food coating repurposes fibroin, a waste product of the silk industry. In other words, no animals are harmed in the making of this coating.
The first food products preserved with silk are due to hit the shelves any time now. It could just be the Holy Grail the food industry needs as it adapts to the climate crisis.