Synergistic effect of natural clinoptilolite with non‐lethal repellents in anti‐rodent dry food packaging

Abstract

Rodents cause enormous damage to stored foods. Anticoagulant rodenticides used to eliminate rodents cannot be used in food packaging because they are toxic to humans. In this study, the use of various non‐lethal repellents and natural clinoptilolite in food packaging has been investigated. For this, capsicum oleoresin was used because of the burning sensation created by the mammals' mouths. Denatonium benzoate and denatonium saccharide were used because of their extremely bitter taste. Finally, natural clinoptilolite was used to absorb the smell of foods, and its synergistic effect was observed with repellents. The additives were mixed with polypropylene carrier and converted into anti‐rodent masterbatches in a laboratory‐type extruder. Then, packaging films were prepared by a cast film extruder. These films were used for the packaging of mouse foods in pellet form with the aid of a heat‐seal tester. In experiments on house mice (Mus musculus), a mixture of repellent additives capsicum oleoresin, denatonium benzoate, denatonium saccharide and odour‐absorbing natural clinoptilolite showed 100% repellency synergistically.

Prevention of drought damage through zeolite treatments onVitis vinifera: A promising sustainable solution for soil management

“…It is applied in different sectors such as medicine and biotechnology (Bacakova et al., 2018), veterinary (Valpotić et al., 2017), building industry (Bilim, 2011), agriculture and horticulture (Jakkula & Wani, 2018) and environmental uses (Pandová et al., 2018). It is employed as a detoxifying, anti‐inflammatory and antioxidant human product (Mastinu et al., 2019), as a feed additive (Folnožić et al., 2019), as a gas and odour absorber (Mohammed & ElBably, 2020; Yücetürk et al., 2021), as pozzolanic activity adjunctive in the cementitious materials (Islam et al., 2022), as a slow‐releasing carrier of agrochemicals (Rehakova et al., 2004) and as decontaminant removing harmful wastes from water and soil (Kallo, 2001). To highlight the great importance of this natural adjuvant, it must be remembered that clinoptilolite was employed on a wide‐ranging as an ion exchanger in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster (1986) with a duplicate attitude on the one hand in cleaning plants to remedy by radioactive cations wastewater and on the other hand as a mixture in cattle feeds to remove 137 caesium (137‐Cs) in their digestive sector (Armbruster, 2001; Lonin et al., 2021).…”