Chapters authored
Active Electrospun Mats: A Promising Material for Active Food Packaging
Nowadays, polymeric materials are widely used in the development of food packages. However, as food products with a greater safety and longer durability are required, packaging research area has been focused on the production of functional materials able to reach such further protection. The incorporation of natural and synthetics active compounds into the polymeric materials by traditional techniques has been the main used strategy, surging thus the research area of active food packaging. Furthermore, the latest science advances provide promising technologies for developing packaging materials, such as the electrospinning. This technique has allowed obtaining ultrathin electrospun mats based on micro- and/or nanofibers that have been proposed as novel active materials able to be applied as wrapper films, sachets and bags during the food packaging. In this chapter, the description of electrospinning, the effect of their principal parameters during the development of active food packaging materials as well as their current applications on different foodstuffs are presented.
Part of the book: Electrospinning