Natural Resources for Human Health Review View Article Online Received 04 March 2022 Revised 23 April 2022 Accepted 30 April 2022 Available online 27 August 2022 Edited by Haipeng Lv KEYWORDS: Edible films Edible coatings Food packaging industry Edible biopolymers Environment friendly packaging Natr Resour Human Health 2022; 1-12 https://doi.org/10.53365/nrfhh/149622 eISSN: 2583-1194 Copyright © 2022 Visagaa Publishing House Edible biofilms and coatings; its characterization and advanced industrial applications Manam Walait 1, * , Huda Rehman Mir 1 , Kinza Anees 1 1 Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan ABSTRACT: Edible films and coatings are layers of edible biopolymers (proteins, lipids and polysaccharides) that can be used as an alternate for plastic packaging materials, because plastic packaging is causing environmental pollution and it can deteriorate human health when come in contact with the food product. Along with their environment friendly nature they can carry anti-oxidants, anti-microbials, anti-browning agents, neutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, colorants, flavors and desired additives to the food product which can prolong their shelf life and increase the aesthetic properties of the food product. Edible films are generated separately by solvent casting and extrusion while edible coating is applied on the food product by spraying or dipping. Te conjugation of these edible biopolymers with the nanotechnology (nanoencapsulation, nanofibers and nanoliposomes) can initiate a controlled and targeted release of the additives added in the film or coating. In this review article several novel biopolymers for edible films and coatings have been discussed along with their applications in fruits and vegetable, meat and poultry and dairy industry. 1. INTRODUCTION Te non-renewability and non-biodegradability of plastic makes it a hazard for environment as it produces a massive amount of solid waste and contributes largely to environmental pollution. As of 2016, from a total of 2.01 billion metric tons of solid waste produced, about 12% of it was the products of petrochemical origin (Ribeiro et al., 2021). As far as food industry is concerned, the packaging of food products is done with the plastic package which is directly involved in environmental pollution. Te foundation of plastic being so much responsible for much of the solid waste produced is its cheap production methods, convenience of transport and light weight (Porta et al., 2011; Ribeiro et al., 2021). Recent experiments show that the interaction of food with the packaging of petrochemical origin have drastic effects on human health due to the presence of cancer causing heavy metals like cadmium and mercury. Furthermore, the burning of this plastic solid waste can release sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and carbon oxides that is a threat for air pollution (Hammam, 2019). As the world is progressing, and people are getting aware of the environmental pollution, the demand for health conscious and environmental friendly goods is increasing. One such example of this is the edible films and coatings. Edible coating or film is a type of food packaging material that is generated from renewable sources like polysaccharide, protein or lipid and can be ingested with the food itself. With a thickness of less than 0.3 mm, edible coatings increase the shelf life of food and are biodegradable (Kandasamy et al., 2021; Ribeiro et al., 2021). With various other advantages, the edible films and coatings can be used to incorporate a variety of additives in food materials, like probiotics, antimicrobials and anti-oxidants (Chaudhary et al., 2020). Tese films and coatings allow the exchange of gases between environment and the food material due to their semi permeable nature. To aid the marketing area of fruits and vegetables, researchers are making edible films with sensory attractiveness by adding certain flavors, dyes and sweeteners to elevate their aesthetic beauty (Kocira et al., 2021). While the similarity in function is quite evident, the implementation design of edible films and coatings on food product is different. Te edible film is generated away from the food product and after its generation it is wrapped around or in between the food layers. Te edible coating is applied directly to the food product by immersing the product in it or spraying the coating on the food itself (Ribeiro et al., 2021). Edible films and coatings are also differ in their thickness with films usually are thicker than the coatings due to their solid film like nature (Kandasamy et al., 2021). Edible films and coatings dates back in the 13 th century when first edible film was produced with the soy milk skin called yuba but its purpose was never to substitute or entirely * Corresponding author. E-mail address: manam.walait@ucp.edu.pk (Manam Walait) Tis is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).