Durable and chlorine rechargeable biocidal composite material for improved food safety

Abstract

Food spoilage and foodborne diseases are caused by pathogenic microbial contaminations, which occur at multi-stages of the food supply chain. The development of materials with chlorine refreshable biocidal functions, which could be integrated with many current food processing procedures, are necessary for food contact surfaces, such as conveyor belts and food packages. Taking the advantages of biocidal activity and serviceability of a previously developed durable and regenerable biocidal antimicrobial cellulose fabric (DMH-g-Cotton fabric), we demonstrated a scalable strategy for fabrication of a chlorine rechargeable antimicrobial composite material consisting of the DMH-g-Cotton, serving as a reinforcement component and a reservoir of active chlorine, and an amine-halamine polymer (2,4-diamino-6-diallylamino-1,3,5-triazine) grafted poly(vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene, PVA-co-PE-g-DAM) as a coating component. The as-prepared halamine composite fabric (HCF) exhibited the integrated properties of a high content of active chlorine, ease of rechargeability, rapid biocidal efficacy even at high chemical oxygen demand condition, reduced cross-contamination risk, and desired mechanical properties. The halamine cellulose fabric played an important role to serve as a reinforcement material and active chlorine reservoir for the composite. Additionally, the incorporation of HCFs as a biocidal food pad was demonstrated to achieve the prolonged shelf life of prepackaged strawberries.