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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Food. Sci. Technol.
Sec. Food Packaging and Preservation
Volume 4 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frfst.2024.1356582
This article is part of the Research Topic Edible and Bioactive Films and Coatings to Optimize Food Preservation View all articles

Characterisation of antibacterial films enriched with thyme essential oil and their application for milk cake preservation

Provisionally accepted
Mehraj Fatema Z. Mulla Mehraj Fatema Z. Mulla 1*Jasim Ahmed Jasim Ahmed 2Aateka Vahora Aateka Vahora 3Shivani Pathania Shivani Pathania 1Mahmoud S. Rashed Mahmoud S. Rashed 1
  • 1 Teagasc - Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Dublin, Ireland
  • 2 Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait City, Kuwait
  • 3 Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Polysaccharide based packaging and its ever increasing application in response to the need for sustainable and safe packaging has prompted researchers to deep dig into the development of antimicrobial biopolymer-based packaging for shelf life enhancement of food samples. A film with good mechanical properties i.e. tensile strength of 7.43 MPa and elongation at break of 23.033% was made by blending chitosan and pectin. To produce active packaging, thyme essential oil (TEO) was added to the blend at concentrations of 10%, 15%, and 20%. Films with added TEO showed significant enhancements in elongation at break (28.22%) and water vapor barrier properties (30.08 g/h.m 2 ). Additionally, the microstructure of the film was also improved, as demonstrated by SEM and AFM measurements. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) indicated the interaction of blended matrix (chitosan and pectin) and TEO as observed from the formation of hydrogen bonds with the addition of TEO owing to the OH functional groups. The use of TEO in pectin and chitosan-based film and its application for milk cake packaging showed delayed microbiological contamination and hardness of milk cake samples. Further, the shelf life of milk cake packaged in pectin and chitosan blend film with 20% TEO was enhanced by >10 days.

    Keywords: Chitosan, pectin, Thyme essential oil, Antibacterial, Atomic Force Microscopy

    Received: 15 Dec 2023; Accepted: 01 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Mulla, Ahmed, Vahora, Pathania and Rashed. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mehraj Fatema Z. Mulla, Teagasc - Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Dublin, Ireland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.