Fabrication of Antimicrobial Packaging Materials Using Natural Polymers by Coaxial Electrospray
Abstract
The development of packaging materials with antimicrobial properties is of great importance to extend product shelf-life and reduce the risk of foodborne illness. In the current study, the coaxial electrospray technique was applied to encapsulate nanoparticles using natural polymers, namely potato starch and water-soluble yellow mustard mucilage (WSM). Emulsions were prepared as the core material by mixing essential oils (thymol: carvacrol at the ratio of 1:1), starch and WSM solution, and starch-WSM solution was prepared as the shell material. The core-shell structured nanoparticles were obtained by coaxial electrospray. The resultant nanoparticles were evaluated on their morphology, particle size, encapsulation efficiency, releasing kinetics, and antimicrobial properties. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used for morphology and size analysis. The results have indicated that the particles are sphere-shaped with the size ranging from 548 nm to 1435 nm. The encapsulation efficiency is 84.17 ± 0.04%. Compared to the nanoparticles without the shell layer by regular electrospray, the releasing kinetics has demonstrated a significantly slower release pattern at the first several hours after dissolving in water, with only 12.84% of the total essential oils released during the first 7 h. The antimicrobial efficacy of the packaging materials was evaluated against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella dublin, and Pseudomonas fluorescen. The results have indicated that the nanoparticles exhibited significant antimicrobial activity against the tested strains. The results have confirmed that the shell of the nanoparticles can significantly provide additional protection over the essential oil and can modulate the release pattern of the core materials over time. The fabricated particles were further evaluated on their effect on product quality attributes using grape tomatoes. The results showed that the particles can effectively extend grape tomatoes’ shelf life by reducing water loss, delaying the textured softness and color change along with time. Further studies would be carried out to study the effect of varied shell composition and thickness on the release pattern of the antimicrobial agents.
Subject Area
Food Science|Animal sciences|Packaging
Recommended Citation
Zicheng Yi,
"Fabrication of Antimicrobial Packaging Materials Using Natural Polymers by Coaxial Electrospray"
(2023).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI30571617.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI30571617