Whey Protein Concentrate/Isolate Biofunctional Films Modified with Melanin from Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) Seeds.

Łukasz Łopusiewicz,Mariusz Śliwiński,Artur Bartkowiak,Mateusz Kostek,Emilia Drozłowska,Marta H F Henriques,Paulina Trocer,Peter Sobolewski

doi:10.3390/ma13173876

Abstract

Valorization of food industry waste and plant residues represents an attractive path towards obtaining biodegradable materials and achieving “zero waste” goals. Here, melanin was isolated from watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) seeds and used as a modifier for whey protein concentrate and isolate films (WPC and WPI) at two concentrations (0.1% and 0.5%). The modification with melanin enhanced the ultraviolet (UV) blocking, water vapor barrier, swelling, and mechanical properties of the WPC/WPI films, in addition to affecting the apparent color. The modified WPC/WPI films also exhibited high antioxidant activity, but no cytotoxicity. Overall, the effects were melanin concentration-dependent. Thus, melanin from watermelon seeds can be used as a functional modifier to develop bioactive biopolymer films with good potential to be exploited in food packaging and biomedical applications.

Highlights

The food market represents a large part of the global economy and is growing every year.Hand-in-hand, this economic sector is responsible for approx. 1.3 billion tons of waste per annum [1]
Yang et al [21] noticed that the moisture content (MC) of alginate/poly(vinyl alcohol) films decreased with increased melanin content, as observed by Roy et al for the case of cellulose/melanin films [22]
This article explored the properties of WPC and WPI films modified with plant melanin derived

Summary

Introduction

The food market represents a large part of the global economy and is growing every year.Hand-in-hand, this economic sector is responsible for approx. 1.3 billion tons of waste per annum [1]. 1.3 billion tons of waste per annum [1] This waste, from fruit, vegetable, and food, includes waste generated during all aspects of food production: cleaning, processing, cooking, and packaging. Some of these waste products and/or by-products can be important sources of bioactive compounds, such as phenolic compounds, dietary fiber, polysaccharides, vitamins, carotenoids, pigments, and oils [2]. These compounds can be potentially used in the development of novel food products (food additives and functional foods) or food packaging materials. This is an attractive path towards waste valorization in line with current market trends connected with “zero waste” goals and the so-called circular economy [3,4]

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