Essential Oils As Additives In Active Food Packaging

Food packaging can be considered as a passive barrier that protects food from environmental factors such as ultraviolet light, oxygen, water vapour, pressure and heat. It also prolongs the shelf-life of food by protecting from chemical and microbiological contaminants and enables foods to be transported and stored safely. Active packaging (AP) provides the opportunity for interaction between the external environment and food, resulting in extended shelf-life of food. Chemoactive packaging has an impact on the chemical composition of the food product. The application of natural additive such as essential oils in active packaging can be used in the forms of films and coatings. It has been observed that, AP helps to maintain temperature, moisture level and microbial and quality control of the food. This review article provides an overview of the active packaging incorporated with essential oils, concerns and challenges in industry, and the effect of essential oil on the packaging microstructure, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties

Encapsulation of Essential Oils in Nanocarriers for Active Food Packaging

Active packaging improves a packaging system’s effectiveness by actively integrating additional components into the packaging material or the headspace around the packaging. Consumer demand and awareness have grown enough to replace chemical agents with natural active agents. Essential oils (EOs) are extensively distributed throughout nature but at low levels and sometimes with poor recovery yields, which poses an issue with their application in food. Due to the instability of EOs when added directly into a food product, they require encapsulation before being added to a packaging matrix such as liposomes, solid-lipid nanoparticles, nano-emulsions, cyclodextrins, and nanostructured lipid nano-carriers. This article is focused on the encapsulation of EOs in different types of nanocarriers. Nanocarriers can improve the efficiency of active substances by providing protection, stability, and controlled and targeted release. The advantages of the many types of nanocarriers that contain active substances that can be used to make antibacterial and antioxidant biopolymeric-based active packaging are discussed. A nanocarrier-encapsulated EO enables the controlled release of oil, stabilizing the packaging for a longer duration

Bio-Based Food Packaging Material for Intelligent Food Packaging Applications for Chicken Fillets

Bionanocomposite packaging is made up of bio- based materials that have high performance activity and are ecologically sustainable alternatives to packaging made of synthetic polymers. Intelligent packaging retains track of the state of the food and the environment in which it is stored, and communicates relevant changes to the consumer through visualization or other methods. The aim of this study was to develop a bionanocomposite intelligent packaging material by utilising sodium alginate, gelatin, nanoclay and curcumin. Sodium alginate, gelatin film incorporated with Curcumin (Cur), and Nanoclay (NC) in various concentrations (0% W/V, 0.5% W/V, 1% W/V and 1. 5% W/V) were prepared using the solvent casting method. The influences of nanoclay and curcumin on the optical, mechanical, physical, chemical, thermal, antibacterial and pH indicating properties were studied using a variety of techniques. All sample films were of high coloration and low transparency with a ΔE*\u3e 4. The thickness of all the film were around 0.08 mm and SA_Gel_Cur_1. 5%NC had the most effective UV barrier properties. The transparency of the films decreased and the UV barrier properties increased with the increasing NC concentrations. FTIR spectra of all samples were very similar, with no alterations to the control\u27s functional groups. SA_Gel_Cur_1.5%NC had the most favourable combined mechanical properties with the highest tensile strength (4.15 ± 0.22MPa), and elongation at break of (6.14 ± 0.39%). All the films are hydrophilic in nature with \u3c 90 contact angle. No films exhibited antibacterial properties against E. coli and S. aureus. Curcumin present at 0.3 W/V% was an effective pH changing indicator which changes from orange to red in alkaline conditions. When tested on chicken breast fillet the developed intelligent packaging film changed to red with the increasing storage time up to 15 days. The developed films had an effective UV barrier capability and pH indicating properties and therefore can be used as smart food packaging to improve the quality of and increase the shelf life of foods. Further, recommendations suggest introducing essential oils or other antimicrobial agents to the bionanocomposite to improve the antibacterial efficacy. Keywords: intelligent packaging, nanoclay, sodium alginate, gelatin, curcumi

An active biodegradable layer-by-layer film based on chitosan-alginate-TiO2 for the enhanced shelf life of tomatoes

This work aims at developing biodegradable active chitosan-alginate layer-by-layer bio-nanocomposite film with TiO2NPs using the solvent casting method followed by CaCl2 crosslinking for food packaging applications. The developed films enhanced the tensile strength and elongation at break by 14.76 and 2 folds (p \u3c 0.05) respectively. The UV barrier properties of CH-SA-0.3%TiO2 film increased by 88.6%, while the film transparency decreased by 87.23%. All films showed antimicrobial activity against foodborne pathogens E. coli, S. aureus, S. typhi, and L. monocytogene. The film with 0.1%TiO2 showed the complete killing of gram-positive bacteria. The CH-SA-0.1%TiO2 film was completely biodegraded during the 3 months. The CH-SA-0.3%TiO2 film showed an increase in the shelf-life up to 8 days with stable pH, total soluble solids, and weight with no bacterial growth. Owing to their improved mechanical, UV barrier, antibacterial, and biodegradability properties the prepared films could be considered a potential candidate for fresh produce packaging