Use of Food By-Products in Biodegradable Films and Coatings for Food Preservation

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 6327

Special Issue Editors

Laboratoire des Substances Naturelles, Institut National de Recherche et d’Analyse Physico-Chimique, INRAP, Pôle Technologique de Sidi Thabet, Sidi Thabet 2020, Tunisia
Interests: active packaging; food packaging; edible films and coatings; food preservation, valorisation of by-products and wastes; bipolymers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Chemical Engineering, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Republic of Korea
Interests: bio-based films; coated paper; materials characterization; nanocomposites processing; bioactive films; coatings for food packaging applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The agri-food sector has been enormously affected by problems related to sources scarcity, food loss and waste generation along the world’s food supply chain, which, in 2019, reached approximately 1.3 billion tons annually with a cost exceeding USD 1000 billion per year. The World Economic Forum argues that a circular economy, intended as an economic system that reduces waste, introducing continual use of resources, could be a USD 4.5 trillion business opportunity. In this view, there is growing interest to switch to a circular economy, offering many opportunities for the entire agri-food system to become more resource-efficient, with positive food security implications.

Agro-industrial and marine by-products and wastes, including husks, feathers, shells, skins, seeds, peels, stems, and leaves, among others, are a source of valuable compounds, such as polysaccharides or proteins, which are useful materials for developing edible or biodegradable coatings and film formulations. Moreover, these by-products of plant and animal origin are a source of natural bioactive substances with interesting antimicrobial and/or antioxidant activities, which, in turn, may enhance the functionality of hydrocolloid-based films and coatings in preserving food quality.

Therefore, we are organizing a Special Issue titled “Use of by-products in biodegradable films and coating for food preservation” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers/special_issues/biodegra_food_preservation) in Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360; CODEN: POLYCK; https://www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers). This Special Issue will collect research papers and review articles focused on the recovery of biopolymers and functional compounds from agro-industrial and marine by-products and their use to produce edible or biodegradable packaging materials, thereby contributing to the development of new sustainable packaging strategies for food preservation in the frame of the circular economy concept. The possible contamination of agri-food by-products and wastes, for instance by pesticides or toxins, can pose in risk their potential uses or applications. Therefore, papers that also evaluate the possible level of contamination of agri-food by-products and wastes before their use in the preparation of biodegradable films and coatings are also welcome for this Special Issue.

With your invaluable experience and insights as great scholars in this area, you are sincerely invited to submit a paper to this Special Issue.

 We are looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Prof. Dr. Khaoula Khwaldia
Dr. Ana Sanches-Silva
Dr. Hajer Aloui
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biopolymers
  • bioactive compounds
  • food packaging
  • bioplastics
  • circular economy
  • sustainability
  • films
  • coatings
  • food preservation

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 919 KiB  
Article
Effect of Active Packaging Material Fortified with Clove Essential Oil on Fungal Growth and Post-Harvest Quality Changes in Table Grape during Cold Storage
by Siriporn Luesuwan, Matchima Naradisorn, Khursheed Ahmad Shiekh, Pornchai Rachtanapun and Wirongrong Tongdeesoontorn
Polymers 2021, 13(19), 3445; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13193445 - 08 Oct 2021
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2886
Abstract
Fungal growth in table grapes (Vitis vinifera cv. beauty seedless) is triggered by Botrytis cinerea, Penicillium sp., Aspergillus sp., and Rhizopus stolonifera during post-harvest storage. Due to the safety aspects, this research aimed to develop antifungal packaging embedded with essential oils [...] Read more.
Fungal growth in table grapes (Vitis vinifera cv. beauty seedless) is triggered by Botrytis cinerea, Penicillium sp., Aspergillus sp., and Rhizopus stolonifera during post-harvest storage. Due to the safety aspects, this research aimed to develop antifungal packaging embedded with essential oils (EOs) to alleviate the fungal decay of table grapes (TG). The various levels of EOs (0.5–5%, v/v) from clove, cinnamon, thyme, peppermint, lemon, bergamot, ginger, spearmint, and lemongrass were tested against Aspergillus sp. The results attained in radial growth, disk diffusion method, minimal inhibitory concentration, and minimal fungicidal concentration revealed that 1% clove essential oil (CEO) showed higher efficacy against Aspergillus sp. compared to the untreated control and other treatments. CEO at the 1% level exhibited a pleasant odor intensity in TG than the other EOs. The active polyvinyl alcohol (7% PVA) film with 1% CEO resulted in lower weight loss, disease severity, and TG berry drop than the control and other treated samples. Additionally, the acceptance score in the TG sample wrapped with a PVA film containing 1% CEO was augmented. Therefore, the PVA film with 1% CEO retarded the fungal growth and prolonged the shelf life of TG during storage of 21 days at 13 °C and 75% relative humidity (RH). Full article
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16 pages, 2451 KiB  
Article
Effects of Peppermint Extract and Chitosan-Based Edible Coating on Storage Quality of Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) Fillets
by Ana Gabriela Morachis-Valdez, Ángel Santillán-Álvarez, Leobardo Manuel Gómez-Oliván, Imelda García-Argueta, Hariz Islas-Flores and Octavio Dublán-García
Polymers 2021, 13(19), 3243; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13193243 - 24 Sep 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2545
Abstract
Edible coatings have recently been developed and applied to different food matrices, due to their numerous benefits, such as increasing the shelf life of foods, improving their appearance, being vehicles of different compounds, such as extracts or oils of various spices that have [...] Read more.
Edible coatings have recently been developed and applied to different food matrices, due to their numerous benefits, such as increasing the shelf life of foods, improving their appearance, being vehicles of different compounds, such as extracts or oils of various spices that have antioxidant and antimicrobial activity, as well as being friendly to the environment. The objective of this research was to develop a new edible coating based on chitosan enriched with peppermint extract and to evaluate its effectiveness to inhibit microbial development in vitro and improve both the quality and shelf life of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) during refrigerated storage (4 ± 1 °C). Three treatments were used: edible coating (C + EC), edible coating +, 5% chitosan (C + ECCh) and edible coating + 1.5% chitosan + 10% peppermint (C + ECChP). Prior the coating carp fillets; the antibacterial activity and antioxidant capacity were evaluated in the peppermint extract and coating solutions. After coating and during storage, the following were determined on the fillet samples: microbiological properties, observed for ECP, an inhibition halo of 14.3 mm for Staphylococcus aureus, not being the case for Gram-negative species, for ECCh, inhibition halos of 17.6 mm, 17.1 mm and 16.5 mm for S. aureus, Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli, respectively; for the ECChP, inhibition halos for S. aureus, S. typhimurium and E. coli of 20 mm, 17 mm and 16.8 mm, respectively. For the physicochemical characteristics: an increase in solubility was observed for all treatments during storage, reaching 46.7 mg SN protein/mg total protein for the control, and values below 29.1 mg SN protein/mg total protein (p < 0.05), for fillets with EC (C + EC > C + ECCh > C + ECChP, respectively at the end of storage. For the pH, maximum values were obtained for the control of 6.4, while for the fillets with EC a maximum of 5.8. For TVB-N, the fillets with different CE treatments obtained values (p < 0.05) of 33.3; 27.2; 25.3 and 23.3 mg N/100 g (control > C + E C > C + ECCh > C + ECChP respectively). Total phenolic compounds in the aqueous peppermint extract were 505.55 mg GAE/100 g dried leaves, with 98.78% antioxidant capacity in the aqueous extract and 81.88% in the EC. Biomolecule oxidation (hydroperoxide content) had a significant increase (p < 0.05) in all treatments during storage, 1.7 mM CHP/mg protein in the control, to 1.4 in C + EC, 1.27 in C + ECCh and 1.16 in C + ECChP; TBARS assay values increased in the different treatments during refrigerated storage, with final values of 33.44, 31.88, 29.40 and 29.21 mM MDA/mg protein in the control; C + EC; C + ECCh and C + ECChP respectively. In SDS -PAGE a protective effect was observed in the myofibrillar proteins of fillets with ECChP). The results indicate that the C + ECCh and C + ECChP treatments extend the shelf life of 3–5 days with respect to microbiological properties and 4–5 days with respect to physicochemical characteristics. A reduction in lipid and protein oxidation products was also observed during refrigerated storage. With these findings, this is considered a promising method to increase the shelf life of fish fillets combined with refrigeration and we are able to recommend this technology for the fish processing industry. Full article
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