A composite film of oxidized levan crosslinked with gelatin: strong hydrophobic and mechanical properties and effective preservation of fresh Mozzarella cheese.

Abstract

The fructosan levan was synthesized in vitro using a recombinant levansucrase. The levan was oxidized with sodium periodate to prepare oxidized levan (OLevan) with three oxidation degrees. OLevan, gelatin (Gel), and gallic acid (GA) were used to prepare the composite films by the method of plate pouring. The analytical results of FT-IR and XPS indicated that OLevan and gelatin were covalently crosslinked through a Schiff base reaction. The crosslinked films had better properties compared to the non-crosslinked films, especially the Gel/GA/50%OLevan film. The film had the lowest swelling degree (44.4 %), while that of Gel/GA/Levan film was 352.6 %. Gel/GA/50%OLevan film also had the highest tensile strength (25.48 MPa), while that of Gel/GA film was 9.48 MPa. Also, Gel/GA/50%OLevan film was used as a packaging material of Mozzarella cheese. The film effectively slowed down changes in the texture and color of the cheese. On the first day, the coliform in the control and PE groups had already exceeded the maximum acceptable limit of cheese (2.0 Log CFU/g). However, that of Gel/GA/50%OLevan group reached the limit on the fifth day. The results show that the new film prepared by crosslinking and composite of natural edible materials has good potential as a safe food packaging material.