Biodegradable Active Packaging as an Alternative to Conventional Packaging: A Case Study with Chicken Fillets

Jawad Sarfraz,Marit Kvalvåg Pettersen,Tan Phat Huynh,Anlaug Ådland Hansen,Jorunn Nilsen,Josefine Skaret,John-Erik Haugen,Trung-Anh Le

doi:10.3390/foods10051126

Jawad Sarfraz, Marit Kvalvåg Pettersen + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10051126

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Abstract

Innovative active packaging has the potential to maintain the food quality and preserve the food safety for extended period. The aim of this study was to discover the effect of active films based on commercially available polylactic acid blend (PLAb) and natural active components on the shelf life and organoleptic properties of chicken fillets and to find out; to what extent they can be used as replacement to the traditional packaging materials. In this study, commercially available PLAb was compounded with citral and cinnamon oil. Active films with 300 µm thickness were then produced on a blown film extruder. The PLAb-based films were thermoformed into trays. Fresh chicken breast fillets were packed under two different gas compositions, modified atmosphere packaging of 60% CO2/40% N2, and 75% O2/25% CO2 and stored at 4 °C. The effect of active packaging materials and gas compositions on the drip loss, dry matter content, organoleptic properties, and microbial quality of the chicken fillets were studied over a storage time of 24 days. The presence of active components in the compounded films was confirmed with FTIR, in addition the release of active components in the headspace of the packaging was established with GC/MS. Additionally, gas barrier properties of the packages were studied. No negative impact on the drip loss and dry matter content was observed. The results show that PLAb-based active packaging can maintain the quality of the chicken fillets and have the potential to replace the traditional packaging materials, such as APET/PE trays.

Highlights

Active packaging based on natural active components has gained much attention during last decade
The 1514 cm−1 band is distinct for the polylactic acid blend (PLAb) -cinnamon oil (Figure 1c) and is believed to belong to -C=C- stretching vibration of the aromatic ring or N-O stretching [28]
The chicken fillets packaged with active PLAb materials were preserved as well as fillets packaged with the APET/PE materials, despite 10-fold higher oxygen transmission rate of the PLAb compared to the APET/PE packages

Summary

Introduction

Active packaging based on natural active components has gained much attention during last decade. A lot of research efforts have been put in developing active packaging solutions. These packaging with active components, such as antimicrobials, antioxidants, O2 scavengers, CO2 emitters/absorbents, moisture regulators, flavor releasers, and absorbers can delay or stop microbial, enzymatic, and oxidative spoilage [2,3,4]. The active (antioxidant, antimicrobial) components can be classified in to natural or synthetic. EO have been in use for long time as flavoring agents for food [5] Compounds such as linalool, cinnamaldehyde, carvacrol, thymol, and citral, which are major components of cilantro, cinnamon, oregano, thyme, and lemongrass EO, respectively, have the potential to replace some of the synthetic additives. The EO disturb the structure and permeability of the cell membrane, they interact with the proteins and enzymes and disturb the important cell functions for example, proton motive force, electron flow, energy regulation, or synthesis of structural components [6,7,8]

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