Technological advances have led to increased constraints regarding food packaging, mainly due to environmental issues, consumer health concerns, and economic restrictions associated therewith. Hence, food scientists and technologists are now more focused on developing biopolymer packages. Starch satisfies all the principal aspects making it a promising raw material for edible coatings/films. Modified starch has grabbed much attention, both at the academic as well as at the industrial level, because these films exhibit dramatic improvement in filming properties without involving any significant increase in cost of production. Various methods, additives used, and recent advances in the field of starch film production are discussed in detail in this review, which also provides an overview of the available information along with recent advances in modified starch film packaging.

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Buckwheat flour was incorporated into wheat flour at different levels (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 %) and the physicochemical, functional and antioxidant properties of the blended flour were studied. This study also investigated the effect of buckwheat on the retention of antioxidant properties of cookies during baking. The results showed significant variation in physicochemical and functional properties of the blended flour. The addition of buckwheat flour into wheat flour also increased the antioxidant properties of blended flour proportionally, but metal chelating properties decreased. The incorporation of buckwheat in wheat flour helped in better retention of antioxidant potential of cookies during baking process as buckwheat cookies (100 % buckwheat) showed greater percentage increase in antioxidant properties than control (100 % wheat). Quality characteristics of cookies such as hardness and spread ratio decreased, while as non-enzymatic browning (NEB) increased significantly with increase in the proportion of buckwheat flour in wheat flour. The Overall acceptability of cookies by sensory analysis was highest at 40 % level of blending. This study concluded that addition of buckwheat in wheat flour, may not only improve the physico-chemical and functional properties of the blended flour but may also enhance the nutraceutical potential of the product prepared from it.

Green tea powder (GTP) was incorporated in wheat flour at different levels (1, 2 and 4 %) and its effect on quality parameters of flour and cookies were studied. Thermal analysis showed that addition of GTP did not increase the onset temperature, end temperature and enthalpy of flour significantly. However, the increase in GTP content retarded the retro gradation of the gelatinized wheat flour gel and decreased the water absorption capacity, Oil absorption capacity, water solubility index, Foam capacity and foam stability significantly. The L* and b* values of cookies decreased from 53.63 to 33.23 and 29.02 to 24.39 respectively, while as, a* value showed an increase from 3.61 to 5.23 indirect proportion to quantity added. The addition of GTP to wheat flour increased the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) percent inhibition and reducing power of cookies. Further, it also increases the acceptability for color, aroma and taste; however it loosened its structural integrity and decreased the fracture force.

The cherry was treated with ultrasonic waves (33 kHz, 60 W) at different time intervals (10, 20, 30, 40, 60 min) and study was carried out to analyze the change in physico-chemical properties (TSS, pH, color, acidity and firmness), antioxidant potential and microbial load of the fruit during the storage period of 15 days at 4 °C. It was observed that ultrasound treatment (US) between 30 and 40 min showed better retention of color of the fruit during the storage period. The antioxidant assays (DPPH, ABTS and TPC) also increased significantly (P ≤ 0.05) up to 40 min, however the firmness of the fruit was affected and it showed a significant decrease beyond 20 min of US treatment. The sample with 40 min US treatment showed significantly less microbial load than other samples. The 20-40 min US treatment time (33 kHz, 60 W) was suggested for preservation of cherry during the storage at 4 °C.

Abbreviations: AA ,ascorbic acid; BHT, butylated hydroxy toluene; DPPH, 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl; SEM, scanning electron microscopy; S/G, starch/glycerol; S/G/AA, starch/glycerol/ascorbic acid; S/G/BHT, starch/glycerol/butylated hydroxy toluene; Tg, glass transition temperature; WVP, water vapour permeability; ΔH, enthalphy of transition. Keywords: Starch film, WVP, Tensile properties, Thermal analysis, Antioxidant release. †This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: [10.1002/star.201400193]. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Received: October 2, 2014 / Revised: November 11, 2014 / Accepted: November 11, 2014 AbstractActive antioxidant food packaging films were developed by the incorporation of ascorbic acid (AA) and butylated hydroxy toluene (BHT) into a rice starch-glycerol matrix. BHT significantly improved the water resistance of starch films. Both AA and BHT promoted significant increase in the elastic modulus but a decrease in film stretchability. S/G/BHT film presented significant decrease in water vapour permeability (WVP). AA and BHT significantly affected the lightness (L*) and yellow (b*) color of the films with minor differences in the green (a*) color. SEM revealed smooth surface of the films. Thermal analysis showed increase in glass transition temperature (Tg) and enthalphy of transition (ΔH) of films with the incorporation of AA and BHT. Exposure of the films to various food simulants showed that the release from the films was dependent on the type of food simulant and the antioxidant. In the aqueous food simulant, films containing ascorbic acid (S/G/AA) produced the largest release and in the fatty food stimulant S/G/BHT film presented fast release.  IntroductionDue to the severe environmental pollution caused by plastic food packaging, there has been a growing amount of interest in the production of edible and biodegradable films [1]. Such films may have the ability of decreasing the amounts of non-renewable conventional synthetic polymer packaging materials, and use ingredients of agricultural derived products [2]. Edible films can be prepared from protein, polysaccharides, lipids or the combination of these components [3,4]. Starch is the natural polysaccharide and it is described as a renewable resource, inexpensive and widely available [5]. Starch-based films exhibit appropriate physical characteristics, since these films are isotropic, odourless, non-toxic, biodegradable, tasteless, colourless and constitute a good barrier against oxygen transfer [1]. However starch films are brittle and addition of certain components like glycerol improves their handling properties. Glycerol imparts flexibility and is a widely used plasticizer for making starch-based films and coatings [6,7]. These films may operate as carriers of many...

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