International packaging project aims to extend food shelf-life

The partners include academics, as well as SMEs and large organisations such as Danisco, the Danish supplier of food ingredients.

The project has funding of EUR3.95m (£3.1m).

TTZ Bremerhaven said the carrier substance for the antimicrobial agents would be a type of polymer because it had "active structures which stimulate the absorption and selective release of antimicrobial substances".

Food safety is the priority of the project and the research organisation said the packaging material would guarantee the safety and freshness of the product during its lifecycle "from farm to fork".

The antimicrobial packaging material will be combined with quality indicators that react to the metabolism of the fresh produce.

This would enable any loss of quality to be detected at an early stage, the organisation added.

Improvements to make the packaging easier to open will also be considered.

TTZ Bremerhaven project manager Dr Yee Hilz said: "The safety of the material will be tested with chemical and toxic profiles during an intensive testing phase. The controlled release of active antimicrobial agents will be tested by encapsulation and nanotechnologies to find a practical solution."

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