From traditional paper to nanocomposite films: Analysis of global research into cellulose for food packaging

This bibliometric study encompasses all publications between 2000 and 2020 on the production of cellulose-containing food packaging, often proposed as an alternative to petro-based materials. Results show a fast-growing interest in this area, especially during the last decade, with 1029 documents published in high-impact journals. In a topic where countries such as Italy, Sweden and Spain show high scientific production per capita, the most influential groups are based in European institutions (Università degli Studi di Perugia and Grenoble Institute of Technology). Among more than 7000 keywords, those with high co-occurrence were analyzed to identify not only the most important research areas, but also current knowledge gaps. It was found that composites in which cellulose is the reinforcing material, commonly as nanofibers or nanocrystals, are becoming more frequent than cellulose-based packaging. The matrix of such composites is, generally speaking, another biopolymer, but their potential to replace conventional thermoplastic materials remains under question.