ABSTRACT
Food and food packaging are becoming important topics recently, with regard to rapid population growth versus limited food and natural sources. Thus, protection and improvement of the functionality of food products and packaging technologies are becoming substantial parameters to control and develop. According to this knowledge, nanotechnology is an emerging technology which can be used and directly applied to food packaging systems to increase the shelf life and physical, chemical, and biochemical properties of food packaging materials. Thus, these enhancements can present better quality for packaged food products. For that reason, firstly, properties of food packaging systems and materials are defined, identified, and clarified to control, manipulate, and modifie new technologies directly on to the food packaging system. Then, nanotechnology as a new, promising alternative technology which can be applied to food packaging system is defined and clarified via its benefit and bottlenecks. Finally, nanotechnology applications to food packaging regarding nanopolymers, nanocomposites, and nanostructured coatings are identified, and commercial samples are given.
