Sustainable food packaging: An updated definition following a holistic approach
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Author
Dörnyei, Krisztina Rita
Uysal-Unalan, Ilke
Krauter, Victoria
Weinrich, Ramona
Incarnato, Loredana
Karlovits, Igor
Colelli, Giancarlo
Chrysochou, Polymeros
Fenech, Margaret Camilleri
Pettersen, Marit Kvalvåg
Arranz, Elena
Frigerio, Valeria
Apicella, Annalisa
Yildirim, Selçuk
Poças, Fátima
Dekker, Matthijs
Johanna, Lahti
Coma, Véronique
Corredig, Milena
Publication date
2023-04-21ISSN
2571-581X
Abstract
Food packaging solutions need to be redesigned to be more sustainable, but determining which solution is ‘more optimal’ is a very difficult task when considering the entire food product value chain. Previous papers paved the way toward a sustainable food packaging definition, but it is far from being commonly accepted or well usable in the broad food systems domain, which further results in uninformed choices for sustainable food packaging made by all stakeholders in the value chain: producers, distributors, practitioners and consumers. Therefore, this work aims first at giving a state-of-the-art overview of sustainable food packaging terms (38 similar terms were identified and grouped into four clusters: Sustainable, Circular, Bio and Other sustainable packaging) and definitions using systematic (narrative) review analysis and ‘controlled expert opinion feedback’ methodology. Second, it aims to offer an updated definition for sustainable food packaging, which is also specific to food packaging and be simple, coherent, easily understandable, and communicable to everybody. The applied holistic approach intends to include all aspects of the food-packaging unit, to consider food safety and packaging functionality, while taking into account different disciplines and challenges related to food packaging along the supply chain. Being a balancing act, a sustainable food packaging may not be a perfect solution, but contextual, suboptimal and in need of constant validation.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
663/664 - Food and nutrition. Enology. Oils. Fat
Pages
12
Publisher
Frontiers Media
Is part of
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
Citation
Dörnyei, Krisztina Rita, Ilke Uysal-Unalan, Victoria Krauter, Ramona Weinrich, Loredana Incarnato, Igor Karlovits, and Giancarlo Colelli et al. 2023. "Sustainable Food Packaging: An Updated Definition Following A Holistic Approach". Frontiers In Sustainable Food Systems 7. doi:10.3389/fsufs.2023.1119052.
Grant agreement number
EC/COST/CA19124/EU/Rethinking packaking for circular and sustainable food supply chains of the future/CIRCUL-A-BILITY
Program
Qualitat i Tecnologia Alimentària
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2850]
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/