IN Brief:
- The three-year BORN research programme has €3.29m in EU support and runs until September 2028.
- Its proposed polymer formulation uses a crystal-nucleating approach to target heat resistance up to 100°C.
- Food-contact performance, production suitability, biodegradation and environmental safety remain subjects of research and validation.
BORN, a European research consortium developing thermally resistant biobased food packaging, has completed its first year of a three-year programme funded by the European Innovation Council. The project is investigating polymer formulations intended to withstand demanding food applications while meeting requirements for safety, sustainability and end-of-life treatment. Its first-year work has established research directions in material design, processing, characterisation and environmental assessment, with commercial performance still to be demonstrated.
The project began on 1 October 2025 and runs to the end of September 2028. Coordinated by Italy’s Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, it has an EU contribution of approximately €3.29 million under the EIC Pathfinder programme. Eight participating organisations across six countries cover polymer science, manufacturing research, safety assessment and packaging applications. The consortium also received an additional €50,000 EIC Booster Grant intended to support the exploitation and innovation potential of its work.
Materials currently used in some biobased and biodegradable packaging applications can lose useful thermal performance at temperatures around 50–55°C, according to the project’s technical description. BORN is investigating formulations intended to raise heat resistance towards 100°C. The temperature is a development objective, not a certified operating limit for a finished container. It also does not imply that a package suitable for one hot-fill or heating process will automatically suit all food products and packaging geometries.
One proposed route uses nature-inspired polymers with a crystal-nucleating additive that encourages crystallisation during processing. The agent provides sites around which ordered polymer regions can develop, potentially changing the material’s response to heating. The consortium is studying this mechanism through formulation work and characterisation, including research on the crystallisation behaviour of poly(lactic acid). The next question is whether suitable thermal and mechanical properties persist when the formulation is converted into finished packaging at repeatable industrial conditions.
BORN’s proposed applications range from flexible packaging for sous-vide food products to microwaveable ready-meal trays and cups for hot drinks. A flexible film requires different forming, sealing and handling properties from a rigid tray or cup; each must also retain the necessary performance under the intended food-contact conditions. The project has identified these formats as possible uses, but published first-year results do not establish that they have been produced commercially or approved for use with hot food.
Consortium member TECNO is working on the processing and characterisation route, including planned injection moulding for trays, cast extrusion for films and thermoforming for cups. These processes impose different temperature histories and mechanical demands on a polymer formulation. Industrial development therefore includes the ability to form consistent shapes and withstand subsequent handling, alongside laboratory heat resistance. The first-year programme has established directions for this work; industrial line speed, sealing behaviour and conversion into finished packs are part of the technical assessment still ahead.
Biological feedstock origin does not establish that a finished polymer is biodegradable, compostable or recyclable under the conditions found in actual waste-management systems. BORN is evaluating degradation in different environments, end-of-life safety and the potential environmental impacts of its additives and formulations. Life-cycle and techno-economic studies are also planned to examine how candidate materials compare across production, use and disposal. These investigations remain part of the research programme rather than verified environmental claims for a saleable pack.
Packaging intended for heated food must be assessed for contact safety under the conditions in which it will be used, including exposure time, food type and temperature. Heat resistance alone cannot establish whether substances migrate from a new formulation into food. The consortium includes toxicological assessment expertise through Fraunhofer’s IME and ITEM institutes and intends to evaluate potential hazards over the material’s lifecycle. Any subsequent food-contact or compostability claims will need to reflect the tested formulation and the specific application.
The consortium includes two Fraunhofer institutes in Germany, Sweden’s KTH, Poland’s Poznań University of Technology, the University of Naples Federico II, the Spanish packaging technology organisation TECNO, and partners in Switzerland. This distribution combines polymer design expertise with packaging development and assessments of environmental behaviour. BORN is also part of the EIC portfolio examining nature-inspired alternatives for food packaging and agricultural films, alongside other European research projects that share technical and regulatory challenges.
In its second year, BORN will develop the most promising material approaches and continue testing their performance and environmental behaviour. The planned programme runs until 30 September 2028, leaving further work on prototypes, processing methods, food-contact suitability and end-of-life treatment. The first year has produced research directions and scientific engagement rather than a validated commercial packaging product. Performance at the intended temperature, manufacturability and safety must all be demonstrated before packaging producers can assess a production deployment.
