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Project Topic
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Current requirements for food packaging are a high level of food quality and safety along the supply chain and the use of environmentally friendly packaging materials. The use of biodegradable active and sustainable packaging materials able to promote food preservation, while avoiding plastic waste accumulation, is becoming urgent. In the case of fresh meat, the packaging should preserve the food matrix, its chemical and physical quality, and reduce the presence of spoiling microorganisms. The main objective of the MATE4MEAT project is to build research and innovation capacities to prevent food spoilage prolonging its shelf-life and to develop safety and environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional plastic packaging materials, creating vacuum and non-vacuum meat packaging systems. In particular, the strategies put in play by MATE4MEAT will be the use of innovative and biobased antimicrobial agents effective against the microorganisms responsible for meat spoilage: i) antimicrobial compounds by cold-adapted bacteria able to interfere with meat spoilage organisms' growth in chilled storage conditions, ii) antimicrobial compounds produced by marine actinomycetes from extreme and less explored Algerian ecosystems, iii) engineered adhesive antimicrobial proteins fused to antimicrobial peptides. Moreover, MATE4MEAT intends to valorise agro-food wastes/side streams by means of green approaches for their conversion into high-added value bioproducts: i) producing biobased microbial polyesters using wastes as a carbon source, ii) extracting phenols from selected wastes and using them to improve hydrophobicity and strength of materials, inferring them antimicrobial and antioxidant activity, iii) developing a cellulose-based material properly modified for meat packaging, with improved technological properties.
Finally the new concept for meat packaging will be validated in terms of effectiveness, safety, quality and the circularity performance indicators.
MATE4MEAT consortium is composed by 9 partners, 4 universities, 1 research institution, and 4 private companies, from 6 different countries. The consortium takes advantage of the multidisciplinary competences proved at international level of all the partners. UNINA combines expertise in protein discovery, characterization, engineering and application; microbial production of polymers and added-value molecules. AEP is a manufacturing company that operates in the field of sustainable food packaging made of cellulose. FOSAN is a non-profit research organization that takes an interdisciplinary approach in the field of food science and nutrition. AU has experience in food waste treatment, novel technologies to be used in unit operations, food safety and sustainability. GTE has expertise in the circular economy, circularity analysis and the techno-economic analysis of various products especially plastics. UAMB has expertise in microbial biotechnology, applied microbiology, production, purification and characterization of secondary metabolites, enzymes, and antibacterial compounds. UJI has expertise in the formulation, processing, and characterization of novel biodegradable polymer systems with application in the food packaging sector. They are also experts in electrodynamic processing techniques to create coatings with release-control capacity. UJI has strong backup in the development of biodegradation and composting ad hoc studies including ecotoxicity in plants, worms and bacteria. IVV has long lasting experience in the development and comprehensive characterization of active packaging materials for food and non-food applications. CIP is a non-profit, educational and research organization. It constitutes one of the leading organizations in Cyprus in the fields of global education, social innovation, entrepreneurship, STEM and sustainable growth. CIP’s team is also focusing on citizens engagement, communications, dissemination and exploitation of projects’ results.
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