(160a) Whey Proteins and Whey Derivatives in the Production of Emulsions and Biodegradable Packaging Materials.

The environmental footprint of plastics has acquired a critical relevance in the field of food packaging. Bio-based materials are expected to mitigate the ecological impact and the dependence on fossil fuels of the food industry by enabling more sustainable packaging solutions. Biopolymers present an opportunity for the use of new, high-performance green materials to replace conventional non-biodegradable petroleum-based packaging counterparts. This has driven the search for alternative biopolymer sources and processing technologies with a special focus on the use of food manufacturing by-products. In this context, whey derivatives stand out due to the vast production of whey in the dairy industry, and the features of whey proteins as hydrocolloids, film-forming polymers and surfactant agents. Whey proteins are remarkable constituents of edible films and coatings, and stabilizers of emulsion-based packaging. Indeed, whey protein-based materials have been engineered to provide active properties to food packaging systems, such as activity against foodborne pathogens, and oxygen scavenging capacity. Moreover, whey has been used as a substrate in the microorganism-mediated synthesis of other biodegradable polymer materials with potential applications in packaging. This review discusses the main features and uses of whey proteins and whey derivatives in the development of green materials for food packaging applications, either as polymer matrices or as bioprocess substrates. Recent advances and current challenges on strategies to enhance the barrier and mechanical properties of whey protein-based films, are presented, including their chemical modification via Maillard reaction, and their combination with other polymers and nanomaterials in the form of composites.

Keywords: Whey protein, biodegradability, bio-based packaging, whey protein films, nanocomposites, Maillard reactions.