Abstract
The main objective of this work was to develop bio-based and biodegradable bilayer systems with antioxidant properties. The outer layer was based on a compression-molded poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV)-based material while antioxidant electrospun fibers based on poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) blends formed the inner active layer. In particular, PLA was blended with 25 wt% of PHB to increase the crystallinity of the fibers and reduce the fiber defects. Moreover, in order to increase the stretchability and to facilitate the electrospinning process of the fiber mats, 15 wt% of oligomeric lactic acid was added as a plasticizer. This system was further loaded with 1 wt% and 3 wt% of catechin, a natural flavonoid with antioxidant activity, to obtain antioxidant-active mats for active food packaging applications. The obtained bilayer systems showed effective catechin release capacity into a fatty food simulant. While the released catechin showed antioxidant effectiveness. Finally, bilayer films showed appropriate disintegration in compost conditions in around three months. Thus, showing their potential as bio-based and biodegradable active packaging for fatty food products.
Highlights
There is a growing attitude towards the incorporation of active agents into food packaging materials instead of directly into the food, allowing a controlled release of the active component from the packaging to the foodstuff to maintain and even to enhance the food quality and safety [1,2,3]
The outer layer was based on a compression-molded poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV)-based material while antioxidant electrospun fibers based on poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) blends formed the inner active layer
In order to increase the stretchability and to facilitate the electrospinning process of the fiber mats, 15 wt% of oligomeric lactic acid was added as a plasticizer
Summary
There is a growing attitude towards the incorporation of active agents into food packaging materials instead of directly into the food, allowing a controlled release of the active component from the packaging to the foodstuff to maintain and even to enhance the food quality and safety [1,2,3]. Catechin has been widely used for the development of antioxidant packaging materials mainly because it shows good scavenging activity [3,5]. The scientific literature reports many approaches for the development of antioxidant packaging systems, but most of them fail when they are trying to be developed into a packaging line at an industrial level [1]. In this sense, the electrospinning technique has gained considerable interest during the last year for the development of active layers for multilayer packaging systems [4,8,9]
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