IIT Madras claims to have developed a sustainable antimicrobial wrapping material that can prevent packaged food contamination by bacteria and is biodegradable.

The wrapper’s anti-bacterial compound has been approved by authorities and doesn’t cause any toxicity, it added. The films developed by an IIT team were made with polymeric blends containing starch, polyvinyl alcohol, cyclic beta glycans.

It also recently won the ‘SITARE- Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) Appreciation 2020’ award.

The research was led by Prof. Mukesh Doble, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras, and Puja Kumari, Research Scholar, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras. The researchers have filed for an Indian patent for the product as well.