Sustainable Food Packaging: Innovations in Coatings and Functional Materials

Dear Colleagues, 

We are pleased to announce a Special Issue of Coatings titled “Sustainable Food Packaging: Innovations in Coatings and Functional Materials”.

The special issue aims to gather recent innovative packaging materials, coatings, films, and/or related innovations that aim to increase the shelf life of food products while providing antimicrobial, antioxidant, light, gas, and moisture properties.  With increasing demand for bio-based solutions to packaging waste problems, the significant opportunities lie in developing functional materials and active coatings formulated from renewable biopolymers, such as carboxymethyl cellulose, chitosan, pectin, and alginate, with incorporated functional additives, such as essential oils, plant-derived phenolic extracts, inorganic micro/nanoparticles, etc.

We would like to welcome original research articles as well as reviews that investigate the above-mentioned topics across various levels.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following research areas:

• Biopolymer-based films/coatings for different types of perishable food products;
• Emulsion-based packaging materials, dips, and coatings;
• Packaging materials with nanoencapsulation;
• Valorisation of agro-industrial waste (fruit/vegetable peels, seed cakes, processing side-streams) for extraction of packaging raw material, such as (but not limited to) cellulose, pectins, alginates, etc.;
• Packaging materials with targeted controlled release mechanisms;
• pH-responsive colorimetric films with packaging application employing one or more types of food products;
• Layer-by-layer assembly and plasma surface treatment to enhance moisture and barrier properties;
• Mathematical modelling and experimental validation of controlled release migration;
• Standardisation studies on extraction of bioactives such as flavonoids, terpenoids, phenolics, or natural food colourings that can be used in organic packaging materials.

We invite researchers from diverse disciplines to submit their valuable contributions to this open-access Special Issue, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and advancing scientific knowledge on a global scale.

Dr. Shweta Gautam
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Coatings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.