Food Cling Film Manufacturer in China: SYNLIFE’s ZeRoll

Addressing the Environmental Challenge Behind Conventional Cling Film

Food packaging buyers evaluating a food cling film manufacturer in China are increasingly weighing more than price and basic barrier performance. Conventional fossil-based plastics used in cling film create challenges related to fossil-resource dependence, long-term environmental persistence, and end-of-life waste management. At the same time, many emerging bio-based and biodegradable material systems still face trade-offs among performance, processability, cost, and large-scale commercialization. This is the exact industry pain point that shapes how SYNLIFE, the brand of Shanghai SiPeng Technology Co., Ltd., approaches its food-contact film development.

SYNLIFE’s Bio-Based Material Foundation

Corporate Background and Strategic Positioning

Founded in May 2022 and headquartered in Shanghai, China, SYNLIFE is positioned as a bio-based materials technology company built on synthetic biology and materials engineering. Rather than focusing only on material synthesis, the company develops materials around actual processing conditions and end-use requirements, with a long-term goal of advancing lower-carbon and carbon-negative biomanufacturing technologies. This application-oriented approach — combining biological manufacturing, material development, formulation optimization, process scale-up, manufacturing, and application development — is what supports its food packaging film line, ZeRoll®.

SYNLIFE’s business coverage extends globally, with ongoing market development and commercial cooperation across multiple international markets, while its core operations remain rooted in China: a Shanghai R&D Center exceeding 2,000 m², and manufacturing and supply-chain capabilities in Jiangsu, including Nantong.

ZeRoll® Compostable Cling Film: Product Overview

Among SYNLIFE’s film and packaging solutions, ZeRoll® includes compostable food-preservation film products intended for household, food-service, and retail applications. Selected product grades are designed as alternatives to conventional cling film, with material composition, bio-based content, and compostability claims determined according to the specific grade and supporting documentation.

Key Features and Design Focus

According to the company’s product positioning, ZeRoll® is built around three core attributes:

• Food-preservation performance suited to everyday household, food-service, and retail use
• Bio-based content varies by specific product grade and should be stated only where supported by corresponding product data or testing.
• A compostable design for applicable product grades, aligning with end-of-life waste management goals

Importantly, SYNLIFE specifies that compostability claims must correspond to the specific product grade, the applicable standard, and the actual third-party certificate — a distinction that reflects a formulation-specific, rather than blanket, approach to environmental claims.

Expanding into High-Barrier Food Packaging: ZeRoll® MAP Meat Packaging Film

Beyond household cling film, SYNLIFE has extended the ZeRoll® platform into modified-atmosphere packaging (MAP) for fresh meat and other high-barrier food applications. This development-stage film targets several technical performance areas simultaneously:

• Oxygen barrier
• Water-vapor barrier
• Carbon-dioxide transmission
• Heat-sealing performance
• Mechanical performance
• Food-contact compliance

The company notes that internal and third-party testing data for this film should be quoted together with the relevant test conditions, methods, and product specifications, rather than treated as a universal performance claim — an approach consistent with SYNLIFE’s broader emphasis on formulation- and grade-specific evidence.

Manufacturing Capability and R&D Infrastructure

SYNLIFE’s film development is supported by a team of more than 50 employees, including researchers and engineers spanning synthetic biology, material development, product development, and commercialization. The company’s technical capability system covers synthetic biology (strain development, metabolic pathway optimization, fermentation process development), materials engineering (polymer formulation, modification, compounding, and processing optimization), and application engineering built around real manufacturing processes such as film processing. AI-assisted R&D methods further support formulation design, process optimization, material-property prediction, and experimental iteration, with data-driven methods used to accelerate screening and optimization across formulation and process development.

On the manufacturing side, SYNLIFE has established industrialization and commercialization capabilities in Jiangsu, including Nantong, supporting selected high-performance bio-based materials, films, and downstream applications.

Certification, Compliance, and Quality Assurance

For buyers assessing a food-contact film supplier, compliance evidence matters as much as formulation. SYNLIFE states that certain products have obtained third-party compostability certification and have undergone bio-based content testing. Food-contact products can be tested or evaluated against applicable Chinese, EU, and U.S. requirements depending on the specific product and target market. The company is explicit that certification bodies, standards, certificate numbers, and applicable product grades should always be specified when certification claims are used externally — reinforcing a grade-specific rather than generalized compliance narrative.

Service Model and Commercialization Support

SYNLIFE supports food packaging customers through several service models, including raw material supply, material customization, joint product development, application development, finished-product OEM/ODM, process and technical support, and pilot and scale-up support. Its service scope spans from material and formulation development through processing optimization, product design, testing support, scale-up, and commercialization — an integrated pathway intended to help bridge laboratory innovation and commercial-scale application. Industries covered include Food Packaging, alongside apparel and textiles, writing instruments and consumer goods, cosmetics and personal care, agriculture and horticulture, and 3D printing.

Industry Recognition and Growth Trajectory

SYNLIFE’s biomanufacturing work has received external recognition, including the CIIF Bio-Manufacturing Special Award in 2025 and selection as one of 16 winners in Tencent’s CarbonX Program 2.0 in 2026, following a global process involving 660 applications from 54 countries and regions and 50 finalists. On the financing side, the company completed a Pre-A financing round of nearly RMB 100 million in October 2024, followed by a Pre-A+ financing round of tens of millions of RMB in May 2025 — funding that supports continued expansion of manufacturing capability and commercial project development.

Conclusion

For companies sourcing a food cling film manufacturer in China, SYNLIFE’s ZeRoll® platform illustrates how compostable and application-specific film development can be approached with attention to formulation-specific material attributes, documented bio-based content where applicable, compostability certification, and food-contact compliance testing rather than broad unsubstantiated claims. Combined with its synthetic biology foundation, Shanghai R&D infrastructure, Jiangsu-based manufacturing and supply-chain capabilities, and structured service models spanning raw material supply through OEM/ODM, SYNLIFE positions its ZeRoll® cling film and MAP packaging film development as part of its broader food-packaging materials and application portfolio.

https://www.synlifeglobal.com/
SYNLIFE