Application of an Intelligent Sensor and Active Packaging System Based on the Bacterial Cellulose of Acetobacter xylinum to Meat Products.

Andi Dirpan,Muspirah Djalal,Irma Kamaruddin

doi:10.3390/s22020544

Abstract

Combining intelligent and active packaging serves the dual purpose of detecting color changes in food that reflect changes in its quality and prolonging its shelf life. This study developed an intelligent and active packaging system made from the cellulose of Acetobacter xylinum and assessed its ability to detect changes in the quality and to increase shelf-life of packaged fresh beef. The properties of the intelligent packaging’s sensor and active packaging films were determined. The application of this system to fresh beef stored at room temperature (28 ± 2 °C) for 24 h was tested. The color of the bromothymol blue (BTB) solution (pH 2.75) in the indicator of the intelligent packaging system changed from orange to dark green to indicate that beef quality changed from fresh to rotten. The meat treated with the active packaging with 10% and 15% garlic extract decayed on the 16th h. In contrast, the meat treated with the active packaging without the garlic extracts rotted on the 12th h. The shift in the indicator’s color was linearly related to the total plate count (TPC), total volatile basic nitrogen (TVBN), and pH of the meat packaged using the active packaging system. Therefore, BTB solution (pH 2.75) can be used as an intelligent packaging indicator that will allow consumers to assess the quality of packaged meat easily. As an antimicrobial agent, the addition of 10–15% garlic extract to the active packaging films can help delay the spoilage of packaged beef.

Highlights

Global beef consumption is predicted to rise as the world population and family income increase, in developing Asian countries [1,2,3]
The main ingredients used in the intelligent and active packaging system developed were the bacterial cellulose produced by A. xylinum, which was fermented in natural media of coconut water
The cellulose was soaked in 70% alcohol for 1 min, heated to 100 ◦C in distilled water for 20 min, and reheated in 1 N 5% NaOH solution at 100 ◦C for 60 min to remove the remaining bacterial cells and substrate attached to the cellulose layer

Summary

Introduction

Global beef consumption is predicted to rise as the world population and family income increase, in developing Asian countries [1,2,3]. Meat packaging must have additional functions that will prevent quality degradation due to microbial contamination and will help consumers to determine the quality of packaged meat [7]. Bacterial cellulose has received interest as a component of active packaging owing to its biodegradability, high water-holding capacity so that it can be employed entirely as a polymer for immobilizing color solutions in intelligent packaging indicators [26]. The development of packaging systems with additional functions is advancing To promote this innovation, this study aimed to maximize the potential of intelligent and active packaging by combining them into a single packaging system based on a bacterial cellulose membrane biopolymer to enhance the quality of packaged meat and help consumers to determine meat freshness

Materials

Production of Intelligent Packaging

Production of Active Packaging Film

Findings

TPC of the Microbes in the Beef Samples