Barrier properties, migration into the food simulants and antimicrobial activity of paper-based materials with functionalized surface

Abstract

The study investigates four paper-based materials designed for short-time wrapping of meat products by determining morpho-structure, capillary-hydroscopic, barrier and antibacterial properties, wettability and migration into food simulants. The paper-based materials are coded as RO, SP, IT and SLO. RO and SLO samples exhibit the best barrier properties against water vapors. The low solubility and contact angles of RO, IT and SLO in A simulant (distilled water) make them suitable for aqueous food storage. The extremely high solubility of SP and SLO in simulant B (acetic acid) shows that wax and hydrophobized starch, respectively are carried by the acidic media, thus these agents are unlikely to coat the paper designed to package acidic food. SLO inhibits E. coli, Salmonella enterica, Lysteria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and fluorescens. Polyethylene coated on RO and IT surface and wax impregnated on SP have a lower antimicrobial activity in comparison with hydrophobized starch coated on SLO.

Storage of chicken breast meat in paper coated with different types of hydrophobic agents

“…The capacity of water adsorption (Cobb index) was measured as the mass of absorbed water on a certain surface of material, by using the COBB OS device, according to the Romanian standard SR EN 535:2014 24 …”

“…The wettability was established as the contact angle of a distilled water drop on the surface. The contact angle was measured from the image captured with a Canon MP‐E device and was determined by using the Golden Ratio program 24 . The sample was used as such.…”

“…WVP was determined according to the formula: where w is the mass increase (g), x is the sample thickness (m), A is the contact surface (m 2 ) and t is the time needed to achieve at equilibrium ( s ). ΔP is the difference between the partially pressure of the medium with silica gel and of the distilled water (2652 Pa at 40°C) 24 …”

“…The capacity of water adsorption (Cobb index) was measured as the mass of absorbed water on a certain surface of material, by using the COBB OS device, according to the Romanian standard SR EN 535:2014. 24 The wettability was established as the contact angle of a distilled water drop on the surface. The contact angle was measured from the image captured with a Canon MP-E device and was determined by using the Golden Ratio program.…”

“…The contact angle was measured from the image captured with a Canon MP-E device and was determined by using the Golden Ratio program. 24 The sample was used as such. Three photos were taken from which the angle of contact was determined and an average of the three values obtained was made.…”