Edible films and coatings as carriers of nano and microencapsulated ingredients

Edible films and coatings can provide a protective barrier against physical and mechanical damage, as well as create a controlled atmosphere, by acting as a semi-permeable barrier for gases, vapor and water. These films and coatings also offer the possibility of incorporating different functional ingredients. Nevertheless, the incorporation of these functional compounds is not always easy and new technologies are needed for successful incorporation. One of the possibilities is the use of micro and nanoencapsulation technologies that could help adding the functional compounds by improving their stability and dispersibility, and at the same time decrease the adverse effects that they can have in the films and coatings' properties. This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive review of the use of edible films and coatings for the incorporation of functional ingredients for food applications.Ana Guimarães received support through grant SFRH/BD/103245/2014 from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2019 unit and BioTecNorte operation Ana Guimarães received support through grant SFRH/BD/103245/2014 from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2019 unit and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020—Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. This work was, also, funded by the projects: “CVMar+i: Industrial innovation through specific collaborations between companies and research centers in the context of marine biotech nological valorization” (INTERREG V-A España—Portugal—POCTEP 2014–2020, Ref. 0302_CVMAR_I_1_P), “MobFood—Mobilizing scientific and technological knowledge in response to the challenges of the agri-food market” (POCI-01-0247-FEDER-024524), by “MobFood” Consortium, and financed by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the Incentive System to Research and Technological Development, within the Portugal2020 Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program.