Films and Coatings from Vegetable Protein

Abstract

For several years plant proteins have been the interest of both researchers and industrialists. The diversity, differences in physicochemical and nutritional properties, contributions to the health of consumers, low cost, and advances in production and processing technologies have made the storage proteins of grains and seeds an extremely attractive potential from the commercial point of view. During the past decades studies have been intensified to replace animal protein by proteins from other sources, including the plant storage proteins. The main sources of such proteins are cereals (e. g., wheat, corn, rice), legumes (e. g., peas, lentils, beans), pseudocereals (e. g., amaranth, quinoa), and those proteins found in grains and seeds rich in oil (e. g., sunflower, soybean, rapeseed, peanut, cotton). The protein content of all of these plant sources is wide, ranging from 35-40% for soybean to 7-9% for rice. Table 1 shows typical protein contents of major cereals, legumes, pseudocereals, and oilseeds. These proteins fall into the category of sustainable biopolymers and have attracted considerable attention as potential substitutes for existing petroleum-based synthetic polymers in at least some applications, owing to the easy availability from renewable resources of these proteins and their ready biodegradability. This chapter deals with different aspects related to the formation, characteristics and applications of materials based on plant proteins.