Physical, Structural, Barrier, and Antifungal Characterization of Chitosan-Zein Edible Films with Added Essential Oils

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences 2017-11, Vol.18 (11), p.2370
• Main Authors: Escamilla-García, Monserrat, Calderón-Domínguez, Georgina, Chanona-Pérez, Jorge J, Mendoza-Madrigal, Angélica G, Di Pierro, Prospero, García-Almendárez, Blanca E, Amaro-Reyes, Aldo, Regalado-González, Carlos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anethole; Antifungal agents; Chitosan; Cinnamaldehyde; Cinnamon; Essential oils; Food safety; Fungi; Fungicides; Glucosamine; Limonene; Oils & fats; Organoleptic properties; Permeability; Physical properties; Refractivity; Shelf life; Structural analysis; Water vapor; Zein
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms18112370

Edible films (EFs) have gained great interest due to their ability to keep foods safe, maintaining their physical and organoleptic properties for a longer time. The aim of this work was to develop EFs based on a chitosan-zein mixture with three different essential oils (EOs) added: anise, orange, and cinnamon, and to characterize them to establish the relationship between their structural and physical properties. The addition of an EO into an EF significantly affected ( < 0.05) the a* (redness/greenness) and b* (yellowness/blueness) values of the film surface. The EFs presented a refractive index between 1.35 and 1.55, and thus are classified as transparent. The physical properties of EFs with an added EO were improved, and films that incorporated the anise EO showed significantly lower water vapor permeability (1.2 ± 0.1 g mm h m kPa ) and high hardness (104.3 ± 3.22 MPa). EFs with an added EO were able to inhibit the growth of sp. and sp. to a larger extent than without an EO. Films' structural changes were the result of chemical interactions among amino acid side chains from zein, glucosamine from chitosan, and cinnamaldehyde, anethole, or limonene from the EOs as detected by a Raman analysis. The incorporation of an EO in the EFs' formulation could represent an alternative use as coatings to enhance the shelf life of food products.