Scientists have created edible food films for food packaging

Newswise – An international group of Indian and Russian scientists have created edible food films for packaging fruits, vegetables, poultry, meat and seafood. The films are made of natural ingredients, they are safe for the environment. health and the environment. In addition, the films are water soluble and dissolve almost 90% in 24 hours. The description of the research and the results of the experiments are published in the Journal of Food Engineering.

“We have created three types of food films based on the well-known natural algae biopolymer sodium alginate,” said Rammohan Aluru, senior researcher at the organic synthesis laboratory at Ural Federal University and co-author. of the article. “Its molecules have film-forming properties. Sodium alginate is an auspicious carbohydrate macromolecule which possesses the potential film-forming properties upon hydrolysis and which exists in abundance in cell walls as a mixture of various salts. great advantage of sodium alginate is that it acts as a gel-liquid in aqueous medium. “

The alginate molecules have been crosslinked with a natural antioxidant ferulic acid. This makes the film not only strong, but also homogeneous, more rigid and prolongs the life of the products.

“Food stays fresher longer due to the antioxidant components that slow down oxidation processes,” said Grigory Zyryanov, professor in the Department of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry at Ural Federal University. “In addition, we can add natural antiviral agents to the films, which will also extend the shelf life of foods. Garlic, turmeric and ginger contain compounds that can prevent the spread of viruses.”

According to the authors, no special equipment for film production is required. On an industrial scale, it can be created by food and film manufacturers.

“It can also be produced in a polymer production plant. The only condition is that it must meet the standards that apply to food production. And if the ocean is an inexhaustible source of algae nearby, it it will be quite easy to create such films, “says Grigory Zyryanov.

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Scientists from Sri Venkateswara and Sri Padmavati Mahila Viswavidyalayam Universities (Tirupati, India), Urals Federal University and the Urals branch of SAR (Ekaterinburg, Russia) worked on the creation of the films. The research was supported by the University Grants Commission (New Delhi, India, Rajiv Gandhi National Scholarship F1-17.1 / 2016-17 / RGNF-2015-17-SC -AND-18494 / SAIII) and the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (Vijayawada, India).

Reference

Sodium alginate is a well-known edible biopolymer of natural origin used as a thickener and stabilizer (food additive E401), used as a thickener or stabilizer. Ferulic acid (a derivative of cinnamic acid) has a wide range of pharmacological properties, including anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antitoxic, hepato and cardioprotective, antiviral and antibacterial, which are mainly due to the antioxidant properties of this acid.