Abstract
Essential oils are natural antibacterial substances and have potential value for application in fruit and vegetable packaging. In this study, Chinese fir essential oil (CFEO) was microencapsulated to prepare food packaging materials for the first time to overcome its volatilization and oxidation shortcomings and to obtain a sustained-release form of the oil. CFEO was effectively encapsulated in gelatin and chitosan using the complex coacervation method, and the encapsulation efficiency, microstructure, infrared spectrum and thermal stability of the microcapsules were evaluated. Experiments confirmed that the microcapsules had some antibacterial activity. A bioactive paper was developed by combining CFEO microcapsules (CFEO-Ms) with paper-based material using the film-forming property of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The coated paper showed good mechanical, air permeability and moisture permeability properties. Environmental scanning electron microscopy confirmed that CFEO-Ms bonded well with PVA and was successfully introduced into the paper fiber after coating, forming an obvious coating film on the surface to facilitate the continuous release of CFEO. The shelf life of strawberries was significantly prolonged when the PVA-coated paper mixed with 3% CFEO-Ms was used for packaging. The results demonstrated that the CFEO-Ms coated paper has the potential to become an effective packaging material for the preservation of strawberries.
Highlights
Plant essential oils obtained from the flowers, leaves, roots, bark, fruits and seeds of aromatic plants via distillation or physical pressing are highly concentrated extracts that are natural products with environmentally friendly characteristics [1]
There is no research on the use of Chinese fir essential oil (CFEO) in food packaging paper, an area for which CFEO has the potential to be used as a natural preservative in packaging materials for food preservation in the future; CFEO applications have been restricted by its limitations, which include insolubility in water, poor stability, volatilization and oxidation [17]; there is an urgent need to explore solutions to the above limitations to expand the application of CFEO in food packaging
The Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum for CFEO microcapsules (CFEO-Ms) contained characteristic CFEO absorption peaks, from which it can be hypothesized that CFEO contained within the microcapsules retained its chemical structure; the absorption peaks were significantly weaker
Summary
Plant essential oils obtained from the flowers, leaves, roots, bark, fruits and seeds of aromatic plants via distillation or physical pressing are highly concentrated extracts that are natural products with environmentally friendly characteristics [1]. When oppositely charged polyelectrolytes are present together in a solution, a dense coacervated phase can be formed via electrostatic interaction under appropriate conditions [24] This process is termed complex coacervation, which has the characteristics of high yield, high efficiency and low influence on the biological activity of the oil-soluble core material under mild conditions [21,25]. PVA has attracted more and more attention from researchers for biomedical applications such as eye drops, contact lenses, tissue adhesion barriers and artificial cartilage, owing to its unique properties, including biocompatibility, hydrophilicity, nontoxicity and biodegradability. It has outstanding film-formation characteristics [32,33].
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