The scientists hope to see production of the new product within three to four years.Speaking to the Anatolia news agency on Monday, Ahmet Yemenicioğlu, a professor in the İYTE’s department of food engineering and one of the scientists involved in the project, said plastic food packaging is very harmful to human health and that many scientists worldwide continue to seek alternatives. He added that the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) has supported the project.
“Scientists from around the world have previously developed edible food packaging; however, they face the problem of fragility because their film for edible packaging are not flexible and can easily break when in use. Our research has resulted in flexible film for edible food packaging. Consequently, the packaging we developed is usable and functional packaging that is also edible,” Yemenicioğlu noted.
He also said the film of edible food packaging includes many proteins as well as natural substances that are able to kill microbes in food while other plastic packaging only protects the food against dust and humidity but cannot kill microbes. Yemenicioğlu said this project would be completed next year.
