Novel procedure to generate transparent, edible and insoluble haemoglobin films

Carlos Álvarez, Anne Maria Mullen

Industry impact: The food and packaging industries are keen on adapting novel biomaterials to reduce the current dependency on petrol-based materials. Also, the EU is demanding a reduction in the generation of food waste, encouraging its recovery, reutilisation and revalorisation. A novel method to generate transparent, food-grade and insoluble bioplastics from pork haemoglobin has been developed; it faces both issues by generating a novel biodegradable and sustainable material to partially replace petroleum-based materials, while blood from meat processors is revalorised. Such technology has the potential to be transferred to other protein-based films, the high solubility of which restricts the range of applications. It also unlocks the potential of using wasted proteins as a renewable source for many applications, such as food packaging, bioactive carriers or even biomedicine.

Two companies operating at global level, and another at national level, were contacted and are deeply interested in furthering collaboration on this project, aiming to transfer this technology to the industrial scale.

Correspondence: carlos.alvarez@teagasc.ie; anne.mullen@teagasc.ie

Other contributors and collaborators: University of Oviedo (Spain) and DIT (Dublin, Ireland).

Funding: ReValueProtein Research Project (Grant Award No. 11/F/043) supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) under the National Development Plan 2007–2013 funded by the Irish Government.