BELTSVILLE, Md.—Food-packaging products made from dairy ingredients could provide a viable alternative to petroleum- based packaging products, according to a chapter written by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist Peggy Tomasula for a new book, “Dairy-Derived Ingredients: Food and Nutraceutical Uses.”
The book serves as a guide to new developments for the dairy and nutraceutical industries, as well as researchers in those fields. ARS scientists are developing strong, biodegradable dairy-based films that are better oxygen barriers than petrochemical-based films.
Tomasula’s chapter, titled “Using Dairy Ingredients to Produce Edible Films and Biodegradable Packaging Materials,” focuses on films made from dairy proteins, with an emphasis on those based on casein and whey, the major proteins found in milk. It also covers research efforts to improve the proteins' mechanical and barrier properties so that these natural materials eventually could be used in a variety of future applications.
