Sustainable Food Technology Blog

Biodegradable Biopolymers for Active Packaging

Biodegradable biopolymers for active packaging: demand, development and directions
Jessica R. Westlake, Martine W. Tran, Yunhong Jiang, Xinyu Zhang, Andrew D. Burrows and Ming Xie
Sustain. Food. Technol., 2023,1, 50-72 DOI: D2FB00004K

Meet the authors

Jess carried out her Undergraduate degree at the University of Bath, where she obtained a first-class master’s degree in Chemistry. During her undergraduate degree, she also carried out a year-long placement at a contract research organisation in Oxford. During this placement, she worked to synthesise therapeutic medicinal compounds. She is now highly motivated by the field of sustainable materials research, and enjoys working on materials that can have clear translational impacts on society. Her PhD research focuses on the formation of biodegradable active packaging materials with controlled release properties, under the supervision of Dr Ming Xie and Professor Andrew Burrows (Department of Chemistry). These materials are designed as alternatives to conventional plastics for food packaging applications, in order to reduce plastic waste. Active packaging functions to reduce food waste by prolonging the shelf-life of food via the release of antimicrobial and antioxidant compounds or the sequestration of degradation-enhancing gases.

Dr Ming Xie is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at University of Bath. His research focuses on membrane-based technologies at the food-water-energy nexus. Dr Xie was the recipient of the Australia Chueng Kong Endeavour Award in 2018. Dr Xie has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, such as Nature Communication, Environmental Science and Technology, and Water Research. His research attracted research funding from Australia Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Royal Society of Chemistry, Royal Society, and Leverhulme Trust. Dr Xie has advised 5 PhD students and 2 postdoctoral researchers, many of whom hold leading positions in academia and industry.

Interlinking Food Consumption, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Developmental Parameters in Turkey

The greenhouse gas emissions from food consumption in Turkey: a regional analysis with developmental parameters

Hatice Merve Bayram and Arda Ozturkcan

Sustain. Food. Technol., 2023,1, 92-99 DOI D2FB00027J

Meet the authors

Assistant Professor Hatice Merve BAYRAM is a dietitian and currently works at the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences at Istanbul Gelisim University in Turkey. She has been doing research on clinical nutrition for adults and the elderly, food science, phytochemistry, and functional foods as well as sustainable diets. She describes the most exciting thing about her work as doing research about undiscovered issues. She thinks that Sustainable Food Technology is exciting due to its scope and key topics. Her wisdom for early career scientists is that the most important thing is to be loving to research.

Associate Professor Arda OZTURKCAN, an Organic Chemist, has been doing research on organic chemistry, green chemistry, sonochemistry, organic synthesis of biologically active compounds and toxicology. He is working in Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences at Istanbul Gelisim University in Turkey, and is also Vice Dean of Faculty of Health Sciences. He is most excited about doing research on different issues and describes Sustainable Food Technology as exciting for the key topics. He thinks the most important thing is to be excited and interested in doing research which is his wisdom for early career scientists.