Polymers in Food Production

The food processing and fabrication industries have been applying various reactive functional polymers in the process of preparing many kinds of foods. The employed reactive functional polymers are usually in the form of (1) ion-exchange resins, (2) immobilized enzymes, (3) membranes, and (4) smart polymers and nanomaterials. 

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GC is equally useful in the determination of the transfer of plasticisers from polymers to food products... 

In an oblique way, polysaccharides reemerged as a subject of advanced study when the importance of conformations and glass transitions in food-product development was recognized. Subsequently, applied texts on biological polymers were printed. By focusing on food polysaccharides, this author undertook an easy assignment, inasmuch as there was only one solvent, water, to consider. Moreover, Nature and the industrial supplier, whether inadvertently or deliberately, fix the inherent properties of these polymer molecules before they reach the processor and consumer. 

FDA approved per 21CFR175.105 in food packaging adhesives and 178.2010 for use in olefin polymers in food contact at usage levels not to exceed 0.1% by weight of finished product. 

The use of edible films in food products packaging will depend on their functional properties, viscoelasticity, optical properties (color and opacity) and water vapor permeability, that depend on the structural cohesion of the polymer, considering the effect of the formulation on the structure of the macro-molecules.17,18 A macroscopic parameter, sometimes ignored, that could influence these films properties is their thickness.17,19... 

Orf/ o-alkylsubstituted phenol 2,6-di-fert-butyl-4-methylphenol (butylated hydroxytoluene, BHT) and its structural analogues are efficient antioxidants. They are widely used for the stabilization of polymers and technical oils [1-16]. Being almost nontoxic, BHT is applied as antioxidant in food products. At the same time BHT and its structural analogues serve as an active basis for several widely used medicines of bioantioxidant nature, such as dibunolum and probucol [55], Molecular structures for some orf/zo-alkylsubstituted phenolic antioxidants are shown below ... 

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