Research advances on tomato canning industry waste as a basis for internal coatings for food packaging

 

Goal 12 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda is Responsible Consumption and Production.

According to the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), in order to achieve economic growth and sustainable development “it is urgent to reduce the ecological footprint by changing the methods of production and consumption of goods and resources”. UNDP explains that this goal is vital and can only be achieved through the “efficient management of shared natural resources and the way in which toxic waste and pollutants are disposed of are vital to achieving it”. It notes that it is also important to “encourage industries, businesses and consumers to recycle and reduce waste, as well as support developing countries to move towards sustainable consumption patterns by 2030”. And as part of the solution to achieve sustainable development, the research of the Experimental Station La Mayora, located in Algarrobo (Malaga), which is currently developing three research projects for the manufacture of bioplastics and their use in the agri-food industry.

The first of the projects, entitled Circular bioeconomy for food packaging: Making use of waste from the tomato canning industry, is the basis for the development of sustainable and economical solutions for food packaging, whose ultimate goal is to manufacture “multifunctional bioplastics from agricultural waste derived from the tomato canning industry”, according to the Malaga digital media AxarquiaPlus. Thus, the second project focuses on Bisphenol-A-free mimetic coatings based on tomato waste for food packaging, whose objective is the use of waste resulting from the industrial processing of tomato fruits as a biorenewable resource for the manufacture of innocuous lacquers of biological origin. “These lacquers would replace bisphenol-A resins in the inner lining of food and beverage cans, as this substance is potentially toxic and harmful to human reproduction,” central government spokesmen recently explained to the Malaga parliament.

This project is being funded by the State Research Agency (AEI) – This type of research has already been carried out since last year with work focused precisely on the aforementioned use for can coatings, obtaining biodegradable films and uses in biomedicine.

This research on bioplastics in the field of food packaging was carried out with internationally renowned institutions such as the University of Cambridge (UK), George Washington University (USA) and the Italian Institute of Technology.