ABSTRACT
The food industry is constantly evolving, including packaging technology. Currently, the industry is still highly dependent on petroleum-derived packaging, which is well known to be highly polluting. Therefore, research and development of packaging materials that help mitigate the effects on the environment should continue. The search has been focused mainly on biodegradable sources, such as carbohydrates, with starch as the most-used material for the production of films, in addition to chitosan or agar. Another important source for the development of packaging matrices has been proteins, such as gelatin or whey protein. However, due to the characteristics of these materials, such as their high affinity to water, they have poor properties, specifically barrier and mechanical properties, which need to be improved. The most widely used material is cellulose nanofibrils, due to their multiple advantages, such as being an extremely abundant and cheap material. But other materials have also been used, such as chitin nanofibrils, which have become a very innovative and effective option. There is also a tendency to use nanorods that, according to what has been reported, give very interesting attributes to the matrices that contain them: first by reinforcing the structure and reducing permeability, and then depending on the nature of these particles by presenting activity against microorganisms, making traditional packaging active. This chapter presents relevant and current information on the development and use of nanofibrils and nanorods as auxiliaries in food-oriented packaging.
