NanoPack Third Newsletter, August 2019

NanoPack is a three-year EU project that is developing state-of-the-art active packaging solutions for perishable foods. As we reached the third year, this newsletter presents the latest developments and highlights from the project.

NanoPack Webinar

The NanoPack workshop ‘Nanotechnology: An untapped approach in food’, was organized by Citc-Cita. It took place on the 21st May in Zaragoza. The main topics of the event included nanotechnology, food packaging, nanosafety, and food waste. Approximately 50 participants attended the event including people from academia, industry and the public sector.

Videos of the speeches can be viewed on the NanoPack’s website!

Stakeholder Survey

We need your input!

A stakeholder survey helps to understand perception and impressions on NanoPack technology and active packaging in general. It includes 9 questions and takes just a few minutes to be completed. The survey is addressed to everyone- researchers, raw material providers, packaging material producers, food manufacturers, retailers, but also consumers.

It will be open until the end of August!

Survey

Best Poster Award

NanoPack has received the award for the “Best Poster” at the V International Congress on Quality and Food Safety ACOFESAL 2019, a prize which we aspired to along with nearly a hundred other participants.

NanoPack partner, Ctic-Cita presented the project at the biannual ACOFESAL congress, which aims to inform, debate and mark the path that must be followed in legal and technological aspects of the influential agents in Food Quality and Safety.

NanoPack was chosen by the European Commission as a success story of international research cooperation

The European Commission has featured NanoPack as one of their EU Research Success Stories, highlighting the importance of the project’s contribution towards reducing the staggering 1.3 billion tonnes of food waste that we generate globally each year. In the interview with the Coordinator of the NanoPack, Prof. Ester Segal explained the aim of the project and how the packaging that is being developed works. The interview will be part of a video on international research cooperation, soon available to watch here.

NanoPack at the IAFP 2019 European Symposium on Food Safety

On April 24-26, representatives from the NanoPack project were present at the annual European Symposium of the International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) in Nantes, France. The conference provides a forum for exchange of knowledge and information on the latest developments and techniques in the field of food science and safety. During this conference, educators, government officials, microbiologists, food industry executives and quality control professionals who are involved in all aspects of growing, storing, transporting and processing food, convene and have the chance to exchange crucial information for the protection of the global food supply.

Consumers Show Willingness to Adopt Nanotechnology in Active Food Packaging

NanoPack organized 10 focus groups and conducted 10 in-depth interviews with consumers and retail managers in China, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Ireland. The findings revealed that, in the case of the NanoPack solution, consumers were not concerned with the “nanotechnology” aspect. Interviewees expressed more concern over the inclusion of essential oils and the “active” nature of this technology, with which they were not familiar. They expressed fear that food products would become “contaminated” or “altered” after the active component was released in the packaging atmosphere.

Innovative Nanopack film extends cherries and bread shelf life by over 40%, latest tests show

The cherries were packed in bags made of NanoPack film and commercial film, then stored at the same holding temperature for 14 days and transferred to an ambient temperature for 4 days. The results have shown that NanoPack film extends the shelf life of cherries by 2 days. Only 33 % of the cherries packaged in commercial film were saleable, compared to the 73 % of NanoPack’s. For bread and baked products, the results were even more dramatic, doubling the shelf life of some baked goods, without any preservatives added, in comparison to those packed in conventional plastics packaging.