150786 20251017144651.0 doi 10.1016/j.fbp.2025.01.015 sideral 142817 ART-2025-142817 eng Nahar, Lutfun Towards sustainable food packaging using natural compounds: A review of current research update 2025 The food packaging industry faces significant challenges due to the negative impacts of conventional packaging materials, particularly plastics. These materials contribute to pollution, degrade slowly, and pose risks to both human health and the environment through chemical leaching. Consequently, there is an increasing demand for safer and more sustainable packaging alternatives. Natural compounds, including biopolymers and bioactive substances, provide biodegradable options that mitigate these risks. This review examines various natural materials used for environmentally friendly packaging, such as essential oils, plant extracts, polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, chitosan, cellulose, and starch. This review highlights recent innovations, including advanced biopolymer formulations, hybrid materials, and nanotechnology-based enhancements, which improve the mechanical, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties of natural packaging solutions. It also presents comparative analyses of these materials, addressing biodegradation rates, life-cycle assessments (LCAs), and their environmental benefits relative to traditional plastics. The review further investigates challenges related to scalability, cost-effectiveness, and regulatory barriers, while also discussing emerging technologies such as machine learning for optimizing materials. The findings offer actionable insights that promote sustainable food packaging solutions aimed at addressing global health and environmental concerns. info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess All rights reserved http://www.europeana.eu/rights/rr-f/ info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Habibi, Emran Gavril, Georgiana-Luminita Abdelfattah, Gamal Moustafa Mahmoud Wrona, Magdalena (orcid)0000-0003-2052-3012 Nerín, Cristina Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0003-2685-5739 Guo, Mingquan Sarker, Satyajit D. 2009 750 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Química Analítica Área Química Analítica 150 (2025), 260-274 Food bioprod. process. Food and Bioproducts Processing 0960-3085 1282011 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/150786/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada info:eu-repo/date/embargoEnd/2027-01-27 2467421 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/150786/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada info:eu-repo/date/embargoEnd/2027-01-27 oai:zaguan.unizar.es:150786 articulos driver 2025-10-17-14:36:35 ARTICLE