Question

volume 3, issue 31 november
be sure to finish your wrapper!
1 you may have often been reminded to finish all your food. but have you ever been asked to be sure you eat the wrapper too? it sounds odd and maybe even a bit unexpected, but you might find yourself eating wrappers along with your food before you know it.
2 letitia bonneville and peggy tomasula are researchers at the u.s. department of agriculture. they are excited about their development of food wrappers that are as edible, nutritious, and tasty as the food inside. edible wrappers would result in fewer packages scattered on lunchroom floors or thrown in landfills.
most of the plastic that is thrown away is used to wrap our food. consider the cheese stick, a common and popular lunch food. bonneville and tomasula have developed a clever use for a material called casein, which is made from powdered milk. the casein can be wrapped around the cheese stick and consumed right along with it. this reduces plastic waste. but the wrapper also adds vitamins and minerals to the cheese.
casein wrappers can solve a major problem. plastic food wrappers may take up to one thousand years to degrade in a landfill. and only one - third of those wrappers are recycled each year. imagine the waste that could be eliminated if those wrappers are eaten right along with the food.
edible wrappers and the sprays also being developed can make the food we eat healthier. breakfast cereal is often coated with sugars to help it maintain its crunch. bonneville and tomasula believe casein can be sprayed onto cereal to preserve that crunch while adding nutritious ingredients like protein. because casein blocks more oxygen from getting to the food than plastic, casein also preserves the food longer. that equals less food waste.
there are some problems to be solved, though. casein is sensitive to moisture, so the team must find ways to decrease that sensitivity. they would also like to create different versions of the product. a moisture - resistant version is good for cheese, but a more soluble version would be perfect for stirring ingredients into coffee or soups. the research team is making progress, so it might not be too long before you see casein in your lunch box or at your local coffee shop.

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