Joaquina Pinheiro

In the wake of escalating global concerns over the environmental impact of plastic pollution, there has been an unprecedented call for sustainable alternatives. The food-packaging industry, responsible for a staggering 40% of global plastic consumption, faces mounting challenges driven by environmental degradation and concerns about fossil fuel depletion. Motivated by these challenges, there is a growing interest in reducing reliance on traditional packaging and exploring eco-friendly solutions derived from renewable resources. Eco-efficient packaging, specifically derived from agricultural raw materials, emerges as a promising solution that aligns with ecological, economic, and social sustainability principles. Starch, abundant and versatile, emerges as a frontrunner among agricultural raw materials for biopolymers. Its inherent properties, including low cost, availability, biodegradability, and biocompatibility, make it a compelling choice. Starch-based bioplastics, with their potential to replace synthetic primary packaging materials, have gained traction due to their satisfactory mechanical and barrier properties. This review delves into the realm of starch-based films and coatings for food applications. It explores fundamental properties, advantages, and limitations, offering insights into potential improvements through various treatments or additive combinations. As technological advances drive the popularity of biodegradable starch-based packaging, this review aims to contribute to the ongoing discourse, providing a comprehensive overview and paving the way for more functional and widely applicable products in the ever-evolving landscape of sustainable packaging.

In this work, a new and natural food product, stalked barnacle (Pollicipes Pollicipes) pâté enriched with blackberry, was developed to valorise the rejected stalked barnacle. To evaluate the addition of blackberry fruits (Rubus ulmifolius Schott.) as a natural preservative on pâté quality, four pâté sample groups were considered: a negative control without a synthetic additive (CTR), a positive control with butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), a group with blackberry extract (blackberry), and a group with a mixture of BHT and blackberry (blackberry + BHT). In addition, the effect of pasteurization (80 °C for 30 min) versus sterilization (121 °C for 30 min) on the pâté quality were evaluated. The bioactive evaluation expressed by the total phenolic content (TPC) and antiradical activity by the DPPH radical scavenging associated with oxidative stability determined by thiobarbituric acid reacting substances (TBARS) were performed. The impact of packaging opening followed by refrigerated storage (4 ± 1 °C) simulating the consumer behavior at home, was assessed. All the heat-treated stalked barnacle pâté samples were found microbially safe with an interesting content of total phenolic, the highest ones being the CTR and Blackberry + BHT, ranging from 58.79 to 55.38 mg GAE/100 g. After the package opening of the barnacle pâté sample of Blackberry + BHT, it revealed a superior inhibition of TBARS (0.46 mg MDA/100 g) after 7 days at refrigerated storage compared to the other samples. These results state the efficacy of blackberry in minimizing the lipid oxidation of stalked barnacle pâte. This study showed the potential for rejected stalked barnacle to be valorised and improve the sustainability of resources.