The bio-resin from tomato peels are being put to good use by researchers as they look to develop alternative bio-based lacquers for the tinned food industry as part of the BIOPAC project.The effort is intended to improve metal can quality and decrease use of plastic containers. At the same time, it will enable small and medium-sized enterprises to be competitive in the metal packaging sector. The BIOPAC consortium is led by the Experimental Station for the Food Preserving Industry (SSICA) of Italy, The team started by analyzing and characterizing tomato wastes. The focus now is on developing an extraction method and optimizing the bio-resin. The partners are using environmentally friendly techniques to extract the bio-resin from tomato peel. The bio-resin is actually cutin – a wax-like water-repellent material found in the walls of various plant cells.
The new lacquers will be designed to meet EU legislation requirements, but the partners will carry out additional tests to ascertain the suitability of their product for food tins and packaging. Based on an old patent developed by SSICA in the 1940s, the project is said to have the potential to fuel research into other bio-based products, which in turn could deliver effective tools and affordable alternatives for other markets. Ultimately, the research will lead to improved use of Europe's renewable agri-food resources and support the efforts of companies to become greener by providing safe and recyclable metal packaging. The BIOCOPAC consortium includes four research centers and seven enterprises from the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Greece, Liechtenstein, and Spain.
Source: www.phys.org