Abstract
Active packaging is becoming an emerging food technology to improve quality and safety of food products. One of the most common approaches is based on the release of antioxidant/antimicrobial compounds from the packaging material. In this work an antifungal active packaging system based on the release of carvacrol and thymol was optimized to increase the post-harvest shelf life of fresh strawberries and bread during storage. Thermal properties of the developed packaging material were determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Volatile compounds in food samples contained in active packaging systems were monitored by using headspace solid phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography analysis (HS-SPME- GC-MS) at controlled conditions. The obtained results provided evidences that exposure to carvacrol and thymol is an effective way to enlarge the quality of strawberries and bread samples during distribution and sale.
Highlights
Active packaging is the one of most relevant approaches to increase the protection and shelf-life of fresh food [1,2]
The Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) patterns obtained for PP films showed a first degradation step at low temperatures observed only for active films, which was associated to the thermal decomposition of carvacrol and/or thymol and a second step corresponding to the thermal degradation of the polymer matrix [34]
The first degradation step observed for active films was considered as an indirect confirmation of the presence of the active compounds in the polymer matrix after processing and their ability to act as active agents in these materials as it has been reported by other authors [36]
Summary
Active packaging is the one of most relevant approaches to increase the protection and shelf-life of fresh food [1,2]. The effectiveness of the developed active films was evaluated by studying the headspace volatile composition of two food samples (bread and strawberries) stored at different conditions. Active films were cut with the appropriate dimensions to match the top of the lid of the used containers in order to release the antimicrobial studied agents (carvacrol and thymol) into the packaging headspace.
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