In recent years food packaging has come a long way and one can find numerous methods that have been under research to improve its functionality and efficiency. This paper studies the recent novel ideas and methods used for food packaging making a suitable road map for the average researcher including steps like material selection, manufacturing processes, design criteria’s and added functionalities to the packaging system. Studies show that bio-plastics are more sustainable and have minimal carbon footprint and can be manufactured through foamed plastic process which is comparatively cheaper than the other processes and easier as well. They are very similar in structure to regular plastics giving them good mechanical properties and further coatings using layer by layer assembly or immobilization can give it an antimicrobial, antioxidant property as well. This is further explained in this paper.

Keywords : Packaging Materials, Functionality ,Manufacturing Processes, Carbon Footprint, Bio-Plastics.