Without naming the place and the research centre, the ISNA news agency has reported its interview with the project manager of a plan aiming to extend the shelf life of dried foods and nuts that are always ready to produce different kinds of fungi and mold and convert it to the dangerous toxic materials like “Aflatoxins“
The researchers formulated the production of smart anti-fungal polymers to use it in the packaging of exporting nuts and dried fruits. The research has been switched on and came to an end to utilize it for nuts packaging after an agreement supporting the plan and the rights of researchers. The research side’s project manager claims that using these kinds of packaging will keep the content three time more than the conventional packaging and when the package is opened the consumer will feel its freshens.
In his interview with ISNA, Mustafa Naji, the project manager, mentioned the production of smart polymers as one of the achievements of these studies and said: “In this project, polymeric materials were converted into polymers with antibacterial and antifungal properties.” These smart polymers will extend the shelf life of the products in packaging, thus eliminating the need for preservatives.
He also said that this innovative polymer contains silver nanoparticles with antibacterial properties and the process of antibacterialization of these polymers is a completely organic process and is performed by compounding.
“Increasing the export capability is one of the benefits of this product, and the product approvals have been obtained, and it is easy to export this product even to the European Union,” Naji said.
The project manager said that the results showed that the packaging containing this polymer is able to keep food products free of mold and spoilage for 45 days
He added that the shelf life of products will increase by using this package up to 3 times and we have signed a contract with one of the dried fruit exporting companies to use this polymer in the packaging of nuts and dried fruits.
Naji said one of the problems with packaging for agricultural products is the low shelf life of the products and their design, noting that customer-friendly packaging was one of the industry’s most challenging designs. They eventually came up with the right design.
He added: “On the other hand, it takes 6 to 9 months for the export products reach to the destination country, which would cause the destruction of nuts, thus the product will be returned to the country; therefore, the exporting company intended to use preservatives to increase the shelf life of these products.”
Naji continued: “In this collaboration, after producing polymer films, they will be given antibacterial and antifungal properties, and then they will be used for packaging.”
