A Brazilian burger chain had replaced the plastic wrap that went around their burgers with a new edible wrap that hungry customers can eat as well; no need to fight your way through the packaging, just get straight on with the eating!
A lot of dairy packaging is getting greener and greener, using less raw material, requiring less energy to make, being reusable and recyclable, and so on. So, how about edible packaging for dairy?
I remember reading a press story suggesting that food-grade packaging could be made using dairy ingredients.
Now, we know that milk contains some fabulous ingredients that are used in a wide and growing variety of ways: as ingredients in a huge range of food and beverage products, as ingredients for pharmaceuticals and so on. Yet, in this press story, a scientist at the Agricultural Research Service in the US suggested that dairy proteins such as casein and whey could be used to make edible films and coatings that, in turn, could be used to make food-grade packaging.
The scientist said casein is an excellent barrier to oxygen, carbon dioxide, and aromas and whey has been found to act as a good moisture barrier. This set me thinking and got me quite excited.
Imagine, you could buy a pot of your favourite yogurt, packed in a cup made from this dairy packaging material, enjoy the yogurt with your packed lunch, and then, when you had finished, you could eat the pot as well.
Now that’s what I call ‘green’!
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