Mechanical, Barrier, Optical Properties and Antimicrobial Activity of Edible Films Prepared from Silver Carp Surimi Incorporated with ε‐Polylysine

Abstract

The effects of incorporating ε‐polylysine (ε‐PL) on mechanical, barrier, optical properties and the antimicrobial activity of edible films from silver carp surimi were investigated. The mechanical properties of surimi films could be improved using ε‐PL below the level of 0.15% in surimi film‐forming solutions, whereas these slightly declined with increasing addition of ε‐PL. However, accelerated polymerization of surimi myosin heavy chain by the addition of ε‐PL was too low to be observed from sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis patterns. It is of interest to notice that surimi films containing ε‐PL revealed a wide range of antimicrobial activity, especially against gram‐positive bacteria. For preservation of fresh fish meats with the help of edible films, the increase of total viable counts and total volatile basic nitrogen values was suppressed during storage at 4°C, indicating that the application of surimi films containing ε‐PL could prolong the shelf life of fresh fish meats. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.