SUSFOFLEX · SMART and SUSTAINABLE FOOD PACKAGING UTILIZING FLEXIBLE PRINTED INTELLIGENCE and MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES

Scientists and business oriented organizations all have a responsibility in the technology driven sustainable development. The SusFoFlex project has put a rather ambitious objective forward, specifically to deliver a technology which targets the customers with exciting new features and which could possibly yield new production-consumption patterns by using cutting edge sustainable technologies with smart features.The development of novel packaging solutions that will have the following characteristicsa.To be sustainable: innovative packaging materials and additives developed from eco-friendly, bio degradable materials obtained from organic agro-food by-products; or traditional packaging materials combined with the former solutions so that their employed amount could be reducedb.To be able to increase/improve the shelf-life of the packaged food: packaging materials with improved barrier and antioxidant propertiesc.To be able to reduce food losses: thanks to the ability to extend the shelf-life, and/or incorporation of nanomaterials based sensor array (intelligent packaging)The development of a methodology that could be flexibly applied to different food categoriesa.Identification of food storage requisitesb.Identification of properties of traditional packaging solutions used at present for that foodc.Development of sustainable materials with competitive performanced.Development of innovative solutions with improved performancese.Industrial small-scale demonstration of the resultsThe consortium will investigate different traditional packaging materials (PP/PE) and identify the key areas where improvement in terms of barriers and smart functions can be made by using natural additives, filler and nanomaterials (natural antioxidant extracts, cellulose-based bionanocomposite, nano-silicates, edible nanolaminate coatings), by PLA films, and by developing nanomaterials based sensor array that can gain information on the condition of the product.