Food safety concerns spurs rise in antimicrobial coatings
The analytical report entitled “Advances in Food Antrimicrobial Coatings" finds that naturally derived coatings (such as polysaccharides, bacteriocins, essential oils, enzymes, proteins and lipids) are increasing in use, though technical challenges still need to be addressed before adoption becomes more widespread.
Safety reasons
“The use of functional food ingredients as active agents in food antimicrobial coatings will increase due to a growing focus on food safety and standards, and end-user preference for natural ingredients,” said Frost & Sullivan’s Technical Insights Research Analyst Aarthi Janakiraman.
Janakiraman added that use of metallic ions and synthetics will continue for the foreseeable future, at least until the gap between research efforts for the two types of coatings narrows.
Use of coatings
According to the research, fresh produce (such as fruits and vegetables) are the most common foodstuffs to be protected using antimicrobial coatings, due to their high susceptibility to microbes. The next most common category is meat, seafood and poultry products.
The study points out that not all coatings work for every food application. For example, Shellac (a wax-based coating) requires a solvent to apply; for that reason, while it could be used on confectionary goods, it would not be feasible for meat and poultry.
