BRUSSELS, January 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
The European Union (EU) has awarded the international NanoPack
consortium €7.7 million to develop and demonstrate a solution for
extending food shelf life by using novel antimicrobial
surfaces.
The three-year project is aimed at demonstrating, validating and
testing food-packaging products with antimicrobial surfaces based
upon natural materials. NanoPack will address scientific,
technological, economic, safety and regulatory challenges.
NanoPack, which is led by the Technion - Israel Institute
of Technology, is funded as part of HORIZON 2020, the EU
Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.
"NanoPack will demonstrate a solution for extending food shelf
life by using novel smart antimicrobial surfaces, applied in active
food packaging products," said Dr. Ester
Segal, NanoPack's coordinator and associate professor at the
Technion. "NanoPack will enhance food safety for consumers by
significant growth inhibition of food-borne microbes, which in turn
will prevent food-borne illness outbreaks and early spoilage."
She added that NanoPack would help reduce the staggering 1.3
billion tonnes of food wasted each year, which cause major economic
loss and significant harm to the world's natural resources.
"We intend to present better performing, safer and smarter
products that will position Europe as the leader in food
nanotechnology and smart antimicrobial packaging while increasing
competitiveness and growth," Dr. Segal added.
The active polymer films developed by NanoPack exhibit
broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties unmet by existing
state-of-the-art materials, which include currently used
nanomaterials such as silver particles, which have raised health
concerns of toxicity and microbial resistance.
Applying the power of nanotechnology, the project will employ
polymer composites based on natural Halloysite Nanotubes (HNTs) as
reliable and safe carriers, capable of tailored release of
bioactive payloads. Due to their size, HNTs are unable to migrate
from the food packaging into food. Maximizing safety, HNTs in the
NanoPack food packaging slowly release minute amounts of potent,
volatile, natural and EU-approved essential oils into the packaging
headspace. The oils exhibit both antimicrobial and anti-fungal
properties and can be tailored to inhibit growth of most food-borne
microbes.
The NanoPack consortium is comprised of 18 partner organizations
- leading industrial and research institutes - from Belgium, Austria, Norway, Spain, Israel, Ireland, Denmark, Portugal, France, Germany and the
Netherlands.
NanoPack will hold its opening conference at the facilities of
Bio Base Europe (BBEU) in Ghent,
Belgium on January 24-26, 2017.
About NanoPack
NanoPack is an EU-funded project, which aims to develop and
demonstrate a solution for extending food shelf life by using novel
antimicrobial surfaces applied in active food packaging
products.
NanoPack intends to develop, scale up and run pilot lines in
operational industrial environments to manufacture and validate
antimicrobial polymer films that are commercially feasible and
accepted by retailers and consumers alike.
Contact Person
Simon van Dam
Project Manager
NanoPack
Email: svandam@agora-partners.com
Phone: +972-2-678-6120
SOURCE NanoPack