Food Proteins as Component of Edible Films

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Engineering and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 3215

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Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples “Federico II”, Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant’Angelo, 80126 Naples, Italy
Interests: hydrocolloid-based films; renewable sources; microbial transglutaminase; film technological features
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Petroleum-based plastics have found widespread application in the daily life. Their versatility, outstanding properties, such as high chemical resistance, elasticity and relatively low price, were the main cause of their success. However, although plastics are considered to be one of the greatest innovation ever, currently their wide use is regarded as a major threat of pollution of the environment because they are not easily degradable. More than 35 million of wastes deriving from different plastic items are produced each year in the world and only 7% of them are recycled, the remaining waste being deposited in the landfills or dispersed in the oceans. Increasing concerns about sustainability and consumer trends relating to environmentally-friendly products have spurred interest in alternatives to petroleum packaging such as edible biodegradable films. These films can replace petroleum packaging for standard packaging functions such as protecting food products from physical contamination, extending shelf-life, and controlling movement of substances such as water and gases. The use of proteins to prepare biodegradable packaging materials is an attractive recycling possibility of various agro-industrial byproducts. Different kinds of proteins might be used as component of the novel bioplastics. However, the main disadvantages of protein-based films are their low mechanical properties and high sensitivity to moisture that reduces the barrier properties of these materials.

Therefore, we invite investigators to contribute original research articles as well as review articles focused on the development strategies for rationally designing biocomposites based on proteins with the aim of improving protein-based film functional properties by blending with nanoparticles, polysaccharides, and different additives (plasticizers, enzymes).

Dr. Loredana Mariniello
Dr. C. Valeria L. Giosafatto
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Protein-based bioplastics
  • Crosslinking of bioplastics
  • Blended films
  • Nanoparticles
  • Bioactive films
  • Film characterization

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 3379 KiB  
Article
Rheological and Antimicrobial Properties of Chitosan and Quinoa Protein Filmogenic Suspensions with Thyme and Rosemary Essential Oils
by Monserrat Escamilla-García, Raquel A. Ríos-Romo, Armando Melgarejo-Mancilla, Mayra Díaz-Ramírez, Hilda M. Hernández-Hernández, Aldo Amaro-Reyes, Prospero Di Pierro and Carlos Regalado-González
Foods 2020, 9(11), 1616; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9111616 - 6 Nov 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2490
Abstract
Food packaging faces the negative impact of synthetic materials on the environment, and edible coatings offer one alternative from filmogenic suspensions (FS). In this work, an active edible FS based on chitosan (C) and quinoa protein (QP) cross-linked with transglutaminase was produced. Thyme [...] Read more.
Food packaging faces the negative impact of synthetic materials on the environment, and edible coatings offer one alternative from filmogenic suspensions (FS). In this work, an active edible FS based on chitosan (C) and quinoa protein (QP) cross-linked with transglutaminase was produced. Thyme (T) and rosemary (R) essential oils (EOs) were incorporated as antimicrobial agents. Particle size, Z potential, and rheological parameters were evaluated. The antimicrobial activity against Micrococcus luteus (NCIB 8166) and Salmonella sp. (Lignieres 1900) was monitored using atomic force microscopy and image analysis. Results indicate that EOs incorporation into C:QP suspensions did not affect the Z potential, ranging from −46.69 ± 3.19 mV to −46.21 ± 3.83 mV. However, the polydispersity index increased from 0.51 ± 0.07 to 0.80 ± 0.04 in suspensions with EO. The minimum inhibitory concentration of active suspensions against Salmonella sp. was 0.5% (v/v) for thyme and 1% (v/v) for rosemary. Entropy and fractal dimension of the images were used to confirm the antimicrobial effect of EOs, which modified the surface roughness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Proteins as Component of Edible Films)
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