Effect of a Composite Alginate/Grape Pomace Extract Packaging Material for Improving Meat Storage

Abstract

The development of food packaging materials that reduce the production of plastic, preserving at the same time the quality of food, is a topic of great interest today for the scientific community. Therefore, this article aims to report the effectiveness of an eco-friendly packaging material based on alginic acid and grape pomace extract from Vitis vinifera L. (winemaking by-products) for storing red meat in a domestic refrigerator. Specifically, biogenic amines are considered “sentinels” of the putrefactive processes, and their presence was thus monitored. For this purpose, an experimental analytical protocol based on the use of solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry was developed during this work for the determination of six biogenic amines (butylamine, cadaverine, isobutylamine, isopentylamine, putrescine, and tyramine). Moreover, by combining the analytical results with those of pH and weight loss measurements, differential scanning calorimetry, and microbiological analysis, it was proved that the studied materials could be proposed as an alternative packaging material for storing foods of animal origin, thus lowering the environmental impact according to sustainability principles.

Effect of a Chitosan-Based Packaging Material on the Domestic Storage of “Ready-to-Cook” Meat Products: Evaluation of Biogenic Amines Production, Phthalates Migration, and In Vitro Antimicrobic Activity’s Impact on Aspergillus Niger

“…Figure 3A presents the total BA concentration levels in beef burgers wrapped in the different packaging materials, adjusted for weight loss (approximately 5% for all samples, as expected from the literature [8,43]), at various storage times at 8 °C. pH measurements, moreover, showed that the highest values were registered for beef burgers wrapped in the PE film for 9 days (8.15 ± 0.05).…”

“…Figure 3A presents the total BA concentration levels in beef burgers wrapped in the different packaging materials, adjusted for weight loss (approximately 5% for all samples, as expected from the literature [8,43]), at various storage times at 8 • C.…”

“…Only isobutyl amine and tyramine, both at the limit of quantification (LOQ) level (47.8 and 6.2 µg/g, respectively) [8], were observed in the meat sample immediately after opening the sales packaging.…”

“…Indeed, studies by Liu et al (2006) [44] and Cruz-Romero et al ( 2013) [45] indicated that LMW chitosan exhibited higher antimicrobial activity than HMW chitosan, likely due to its ability to disrupt bacterial cell metabolism [46], penetrate the cell wall, and bind with DNA, thereby inhibiting mRNA and DNA transcription [47]. Only isobutyl amine and tyramine, both at the limit of quantification (LOQ) level (47.8 and 6.2 µg/g, respectively) [8], were observed in the meat sample immediately after opening the sales packaging.…”

“…In addition to proper storage, the choice of packaging material plays a crucial role in preserving meat products [8]. The food industry has used polymeric materials for wrapping meat products for the past 50 years.…”