Milk Wrappers To Replace Conventional Plastics, Healthy New Discovery

Plastics will soon be gone with this new invention to protect leftover foods using milk wrappers! Yes, milk will be used to cover food instead of the conventional plastic wrappers.

According to a new study presented at the National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the environmentally harmful cling wrap will soon be phased out since it doesn't really make a good job in preventing food spoilage as reported in Digital Trends.

In response to this, they created "an environmentally friendly film made of the milk protein casein" is found to be "500 times better than plastics at keeping oxygen away from food." But its performance is only second to the fact that it comes from milk, meaning these wrappers are sustainable, biodegradable, and surprisingly, edible. "The protein-based films are powerful oxygen blockers that help prevent food spoilage, When used in packaging, they could prevent food waste during distribution along the food chain," said Peggy Tomasula, the lead researcher of the study.

Most of the edible packaging developed is made of starch which is very porous making it easier for oxygen to penetrate the food stored. But this casein-based packaging has very small holes in nano size which makes it better in keeping out unwanted oxygen spoiler. Surprisingly, the milk-based packaging looks very much like any regular wrap but it offers less flexibility, yet completely edible.

To make the product even better, scientists aim to add probiotics, nutraceuticals and vitamins to its formulation so that food will be enclosed in nutrients. Currently, the packaging lacks flavor but they can definitely add one to it. According to Laetitia Bonnaillie, the application of this coating technology is endless. And, "We are currently testing applications such as single-serve, edible food wrappers. For instance, individually wrapped cheese sticks use a large proportion of plastic - we would like to fix that."

The team are now entertaining prototypes for a company in Texas and is still receiving several interest from other companies. They believe the product will be readily available in the market in around three years. In a report published by the CBC News, the primary goal of the study is to have zero waste which our planets needs as a solution to our current natural issues.