Here's a food wrapper you can eat by Randy Rieland

Question

Consider the cheese stick it is not a beautiful food but it also isn't practically healthy cheese sticks are about as commonplace as snack food gets. Yet in the package version that ended up in so many kids lunch boxes each cylinder mozzarella or Cheddar's individually wrapped like a high-end truffle and every day thousands of those little pieces of plastic wrap are thrown in the trash but that may not be the case for long two researchers at the US department of agriculture USDA have developed a film made from a milk protein the film can be eaten with the cheese which means that it may not be too long before we have a wrapper we can eat it also could be healthy edible plastic exists but it's largely made of starch not protein. "The benefit," says peg Tomasula one of the lead researchers is that "it can be consumed with the food so it doesn't get rid of one layer of packaging like with individual wrapped cheese sticks it also gives you the opportunity to add vitamins or minerals or ways to block light damage to the food and you can add flavors if you wanted to add a strawberry flavor to something you could embed that in the film." The key component in the initiative packaging is casein a group of milk proteins with higher nutritional value. Tomasula has been researching casein since and actually created a new version of the protein using carbon dioxide she noticed that it wasn't very soluble in water and that made her believe it might be used to make a film coating that could extend the shelf life of dairy foods Tomasula kept exploring the potential of this research and when other scientists Laetiitia Bonnaille join the USDA team Tomasula asked her to see if the dry milk could be used to produce the film that would also allow them to make use of surplus milk powder during times when dairy farms are producing too much milk Bonnaille also focused on refining the product by making it less sensitive to moisture and improving the process by which the film was made so it could be more uniform and commercial at the annual meeting of the American chemical society they announced the results of their efforts it is edible biodegradable packaging the casein film could either come in sheets not unlike plastic wrap or be sprayed on as a coating and it's been found to be significantly more effective at blocking oxygen then ordinary plastic wrap so it can protect food from spoiling for much longer period of time there would be some limitations at least initially. "This would mostly be for dairy products or foods that would likely be used with dairy like cereal" says Tomasula "We wouldn't put this on fruits and vegetables in the market you couldn't do that because of milk allergies there would have to be labeling to let people know it's a milk protein" also this wouldn't mean that all packaging would be eliminated for cheese another dairy products they would still need to be covered in some way and a box or packet to keep the food from getting dirty or exposed to too much moisture but dispensing with the individual wrapping around each food item this could mean a lot of less plastic would end up in the landfills by some estimates you could take as long as a thousand years for plastic to degrade and unfortunately less than a third of plastic Americans throw away actually gets recycled the idea said bonnaillie is to create a different versions of the casein film one might be very soluble making it better suited for a product you dissolve in water another could be considerably less soluble so it be more resistant to moisture and work better is protective packaging we are trying things with the extremes she says we've just started exploring applications there are many more things we could do "say so long to sugar? For instance instead of tearing open a paper container to make instant coffee or soup you could just drop a casein packet of the ingredients into the water where everything would dissolve plus extra protein would be added but food companies might actually prefer a spray version of the product that way they could store a mixture of the particular milk proteins and water and make the coatings and spray them on when they're processing the food says Tomasula one possibility would be to spray the protein film on cereal which generally is coated with sugar to keep it crunchy it could be fat-free a healthier way to replace a process that now largely done with sugar says bonnaillie tomasula ads were hoping that for something like meal replacement bars we could make the edible wrapping taste like chocolate we can combine the ingredients together and provide a little more nutrition Tomasula and bonnaillie say they've already been working with some companies and believe they're edible packaging could be on the market within 3 years another good sign since their announcement in August they've been in contact by what they describe as "two major companies"
Use the passage to answer the question in three to five sentences explain the author's purpose and analyze how the author use rhetorical devices to achieve this purpose include evidence from the text to support your answer

Answer 1

The author's purpose in the passage is to inform readers about the innovative development of edible packaging made from casein, a milk protein, as a solution to reduce plastic waste while providing potential health benefits. To achieve this, the author employs a mix of logical reasoning and expert testimony. For instance, the statement from Peg Tomasula that "it can be consumed with the food so it doesn't get rid of one layer of packaging" emphasizes the practicality of the solution in addressing environmental concerns. Additionally, the use of phrases such as "the potential of this research" and "the opportunity to add vitamins or minerals" highlights the broader implications of such advancements, persuading readers that this innovation could transform food packaging in healthy and sustainable ways. The mention of collaborating with major companies establishes credibility and suggests that this technology is on the verge of practical application, further engaging the audience's interest.