Bioplastic packaging for fresh meat and fish: Current status and future direction on mitigating food and packaging waste

This work evaluates the preparedness of the packaging industry towards more circular, sustainable solutions for fresh meat and fish. The term bioplastic is ill-defined, creating confusion between all stakeholders in the value chain. The implementation of bioplastic as food contact material will only occur when there are demonstrated solutions that can equally or better protect fresh meat and fish from spoilage, compared to conventional plastic. Price, supply chain availability, machinability, and safety will also be key in the shift from fossil to bioplastic. The application of bioplastic as food contact material for fresh meat and fish is at its infancy. In this work, a multidisciplinary approach was employed to highlight the need for a holistic eco-design that minimizes food and packaging waste, due to the high environmental footprint and value of fresh fish and meat. Although bioplastics are positively perceived by all end-users, including consumers, there is widespread confusion in their market implementation. Their sorting and end-of-life are major challenges. Their supply chains are underdeveloped, in terms of costs, scale-up, sorting, and recycling even for the most promising materials. Most bioplastics still do not meet the specified technological functionalities required to substitute their fossil-fuel counterparts. For appropriate eco-design, it is important to quantify the bioplastic solutions using life cycle assessment considering the material-food unit and most importantly, ensure their safety, by demonstrating the absence of migration of harmful substances from packaging, especially when derived from waste byproducts. The development of active and intelligent bioplastic solutions to increase the shelf life of fresh fish and meat products will also add significant value to the food-packaging unit.