The use of polymer nanocomposite materials in food and beverage packaging offers many possibilities for improvements in barrier, mechanical and thermal properties and other important characteristics. As a result, there are already a number of commercial applications and, of particular note, an increasing interest in packaging from renewable materials based on biopolymer nanocomposites. This chapter provides a review of developments in petroleum- based polymer nanocomposites and summarizes the state-of-the-art in terms of R&D on biopolymer nanocomposites, including thermoplastic starch, polylactides, polyhydroxyalkanoates, chitosan, proteins or hemicelluloses in combination with various inorganic or organic nanofillers.