Characterisation and antimicrobial activity of active polypropylene films containing oregano essential oil and Allium extract to be used in packaging for meat products

Cooked ham is more prone to spoilage than other meat products, making preservation a key step in its commercialisation. One of the most promising preservation strategies is the use of active packaging. Oregano essential oil (OEO) and Proallium® (an Allium extract) have previously been shown to be useful in polylactic acid (PLA)-active films for ready-to-eat salads. The present work aims to study the suitability of polypropylene (PP) films containing OEO and Proallium® in the preservation of cooked ham. Concerning the technological features of the studied material, no significant changes in the mechanical or optical properties of PP films containing the active substances were recorded in comparison to the PP film without extracts. However, films containing both active substances were more flexible than the control film and less strong, highlighting the plasticisation effect of the natural extracts. Moreover, physical properties changed when active substances were added to the film. Incorporation of 4% Proallium® affected the transparency of the film to a higher extent compared to 8% OEO, undergoing decreases in transparency of 40% and 45%, respectively. Moreover, only the film containing the highest amount of OEO (8%) significantly decreased the thickness. Both active substances showed antibacterial properties; however, Proallium®-active films seemed to be more effective against Brochothrix thermosphacta than PP films containing OEO, with all percentages of Proallium® killing the bacterial population present in the ham after 60 days. In addition, materials containing the lowest Proallium® content exhibited higher acceptability by consumers in the sensory analyses with 63–100% willing to purchase, better even than the control package (56–89%). In fact, 2% of Proallium® obtained the best results in the odour study performed by the panellists.Junta de Andalucía (AGR7252)Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y Fondos FEDER (AGL2012-38357-C02-01

Estudio de la citotoxicidad basal de compuestos antioxidantes presentes en el aceite esencial de orégano: CARVACROL y TIMOL

Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación AGL2012-38357-C02-01Junta de Andalucía AGR-725

Estrés oxidativo producido por carvacrol y su combinación con timol en la línea celular CACO-2

Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación AGL2012-38357-C02-01Junta de Andalucía AGR-725

Estudio in vitro de compuestos sulfurados del aceite esencial de ajo para su potencial uso en la industria alimentaria

Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación AGL2012-38357-C02-0

Seguridad, migración y educación en tiempos de pandemia

Desde la aparición del brote de covid-19 en Wuhan, China, la humanidad vivió una pandemia nunca vista, que trajo consigo efectos sociales, económicos, de salud e incluso geopolíticos. Por ello, la Universidad Sergio Arboleda con un aporte multi-campus de sus Escuelas, a través de la iniciativa Autores 4.0 de la Dirección de Publicaciones Científicas y el proyecto Show & Write, realizó una investigación con rigor científico, compromiso y responsabilidad social para contribuir con ello a enfrentar los nuevos retos de esta pandemia. Dentro de este estudio se aborda la gripe española, los impactos esperados del comercio exterior en América Latina, las migraciones y la seguridad internacional, las oportunidades de la ingeniería humanitaria para presentar soluciones, el impacto sobre la calidad del aire de Bogotá, los efectos sobre la salud mental, las innovaciones en los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje, el quehacer del docente y la deserción estudiantil, así como un análisis econométrico sobre el impacto de las medidas de confinamiento y otras restricciones sobre la sociedad, exaltando la responsabilidad de los individuos para enfrentar la pandemia

Preservation of phytosterol and PUFA during ready-to-eat lettuce shelf-life in active bio-package

8 páginas.- 5 figuras.- 1 tabla.- 27 referencias.- Supplementary material related to this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fpsl.2019.100410Natural preservatives are used in food packages to improve the shelf life of perishable products. Carvacrol and thymol, the main components of oregano essential oil (OEO), are used in active packaging due to their antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Here, the effect of a bioactive polylactic acid (PLA)/polybutylene succinate (PBS) package in the conservation of lettuce compounds with dietetic value is studied. Analytical pyrolysis (PyGC/MS) was used to detect changes in dietary components such are phytosterols (PHSTs) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) after 1, 4 and 8 days of packaged in PLA/PBS (95:5%) films containing different OEO concentrations (2-10%). Lettuce PUFAs and PHSTs content decreased when packed in films without OEO. However, when packed in films containing 5 and 10% OEO, these bioactive components were preserved during the estimated lettuce shelf life, for up to 8 days of storage.Projects CSIC10-1E-448, AGL2012-38357-C02-01 and INTERCARBON (CGL2016-78937-R) co-financed by FEDER Funds, and AGR-7252 Junta de Andalucía. M. Llana-Ruiz-Cabello wish to acknowledge ‘Junta de Andalucía’ grant associated to AGR-7252 project. Alba Carmona Navarro and Desire Monis Carrere are recognized for their technical assistancePeer reviewe

Effect of an active bio-package extruded with oregano essential oil in lettuce nutrient profile

Due to its bioactive properties, oregano essential oil (OEO) is being included in new food packaging materials. However, due to essential oils (EOs) high volatility, ageing and conditions of films preparation may cause losses and diminish the activity, Analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC/MS) is a tool providing fingerprinting and precise information about composition, quality and additives in active packages made with biogenic polymers, In a previous work, we used Py-GC/MS combined with d13C analysis to ensure that no appreciable EO losses occurred when our polylactic acid (PLA) polybutylene succinate (PBS) (95:5) films containing OEO were developed. We confirmed that the OEO remained in adequate quantities and bioactive after the extrusion process. In a subsequent study, the effect of this bio-package in lettuce shelf life and its effect in the chemical composition of the food that contains was evaluated, and specifically in the conservation of specific compounds with dietetic value. In this work we describe a detailed Py-GC/MS study performed to detect changes in the relative contents of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and phytosterols in iceberg lettuce after 1, 4 and 8 days packaged in PLAlPBS (95:5) films containing different quantities of OEO (O , 2, 5 and 10%). Our results indicate that films containing any quantity of OEO, used in packages with a proportion of 5.5 9 of film/kg lettuce, allow maintaining the profile of lettuce PUFAs and phytosterols during the shelf life of the packed food.Projects AGL2012-38357-C02-01 and CGL2012-38655-C04-01, cofinanced by FEDER. María Llana-Ruiz-Cabello acknowledges Junta de Andalucia predoctoral grant associated to AGR7252 project.Peer Reviewe

Molecular characterisation of a bio-based active packaging containing Origanum vulgare L. essential oil using pyrolysis gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

6 páginas.-- 4 figuras.-- 38 referenciasBACKGROUND Environmental, economic and safety challenges motivate shift towards safer materials for food packaging. New bioactive packaging techniques, i.e. addition of essential plant oils (EOs), are gaining attention by creating barriers to protect products from spoilage. Analytical pyrolysis gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) was used to fingerprint a bioactive polylactic acid (PLA) with polybutylene succinate (PBS) (950 g kg−1:50 g kg−1) film extruded with variable quantities (0, 20, 50 and 100 g kg−1) of Origanum vulgare EO. RESULTS Main PLA:PBS pyrolysis products were lactide enantiomers and monomer units from the major PLA fraction and succinic acid anhydride from the PBS fraction. Oregano EO pyrolysis released cymene, terpinene and thymol/carvacrol peaks as diagnostic peaks for EO. In fact, linear correlation coefficients better than 0.950R2 value (P < 0.001) were found between the chromatographic area of the diagnostic peaks and the amount of oregano EO in the bioplastic. CONCLUSION The pyrolytic behaviour of a bio-based active package polymer including EO is studied in detail. Identified diagnostic compounds provide a tool to monitor the quantity of EO incorporated into the PLA:PBS polymeric matrix. Analytical pyrolysis is proposed as a rapid technique for the identification and quantification of additives within bio-based plastic matrices. © 2015 Society of Chemical IndustryThis work was partly funded by the Spanish ‘Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad’ through projects CGL2012-38655-C04-01 and AGL2012-38357-C02-01 co-financed by FEDER Funds, and Junta de Andalucía (AGR-7252). N.T. Jiménez-Morillo is funded by a FPI research grant (BES-2013-062573).Peer reviewe

Fingerprinting (Py-GC/MS) of a bio-film active food package with Origanum vulgare L. essential oil.

Poster ABSTRACTS OF THE 51st Congress of the European Societies of Toxicology (EUROTOX)The use of biobased packaging materials are becoming an alternative to polymers produced from non-renewable resources. Moreover, increasing interest in the use of active additives from natural sources has been observed in consumers and industry. Oregano essential oil (EO) is being included in new materials due to its bioactive properties. However, due to EOs high volatility, aspects like ageing and conditions of films preparation may cause losses of active agent. In this work, analytical pyrolysis (Py–GC/MS) was used to fingerprint a bioactive polylactic acid (PLA) with polybutylene succinate (PBS) (95:5) film extruded with variable quantities of oregano essential oil. Bio-plastic pyrolysis detected both, lactide enantiomers and monomer units from the PLA and specific molecular markers from the PBS fraction. Oregano EO pyrolysis released aromatics and terpenes with cymene, terpinene and thymol/carvacrol peaks identified as diagnostic peaks. Linear correlation coefficients < 0.950R2 (p < 0.001) were found between the chromatographic area of these diagnostic peaks and the amount of oregano EO included in the bioplastic matrix. Our results indicate that Py–GC/MS is a valuable tool providing not only a precise fingerprinting but also precise information about composition, quality and additives in active packages made with biogenic polymersProjects AGL2012-38357-C02-01 and CGL2012-38655-C04-01, co-financed by FEDER. M Llana-Ruiz-Cabello acknowledges Junta de Andalucia predoctoral grant associated to AGR7252 project and NT Jiménez-Morillo to his FPI research grant (BES-2013-062573).Peer reviewe

Pyrolysis-gas chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometry for monitoring natural additives in polylactic acid active food packages

7 páginas.-- 4 figuras.-- 1 tabla.-- 39 referencias.-- Selected paper from the XVI Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Society of Chromatography and Related Techniques (SECyTA 2016), 2–4 November 2016, Seville, Spain.Compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) usually requires preparative steps (pretreatments, extraction, derivatization) to get amenable chromatographic analytes from bulk geological, biological or synthetic materials. Analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC/MS) can help to overcome such sample manipulation. This communication describe the results obtained by hyphenating analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC) with carbon isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) for the analysis of a polylactic acid (PLA) a based bio-plastic extruded with variable quantities of a natural plant extract or oregano essential oil. The chemical structural information of pyrolysates was first determined by conventional analytical pyrolysis and the measure of δ13C in specific compounds was done by coupling a pyrolysis unit to a gas chromatograph connected to a continuous flow IRMS unit (Py-GC-C-IRMS). Using this Py-CSIA device it was possible to trace natural additives with depleted δ13C values produced by C3 photosystem vegetation (cymene: −26.7‰ ± 2.52; terpinene: −27.1‰ ± 0.13 and carvacrol: −27.5‰ ± 1.80 from oregano and two unknown structures: −23.3‰ ± 3.32 and −24.4‰ ± 1.70 and butyl valerate: −24.1‰ ± 3.55 from Allium spp.), within the naturally isotopically enriched bio-plastic backbone derived from corn (C4 vegetation) starch (cyclopentanones: −14.2‰ ± 2.11; lactide enantiomers: −9.2‰ ± 1.56 and larger polymeric units: −17.2‰ ± 1.71). This is the first application of Py-CSIA to characterize a bio-plastic and is shown as a promising tool to study such materials, providing not only a fingerprinting, but also valuable information about the origin of the materials, allowing the traceability of additives and minimizing sample preparation.M. Llana-Ruiz-Cabello wish to acknowledge ‘Junta de Andalucía’ grant associated to AGR-7252 Junta de Andalucía group and N.T Jiménez-Morillo is funded by a FPI research grant (BES-2013-062573). Projects CSIC10-1E-448 and INTERCARBON (CGL2016-78937-R) co-financed by FEDER Funds. Alba Carmona Navarro and Desire Monis Carrere are recognized for their technical assistance. Four anonymous referees are acknowledged for their helpful comments on the manuscript.Peer reviewe