Water Vapor Permeability of Mammalian and Fish Gelatin Films

Abstract

Water vapor permeability of cold‐ and warm‐water fish skin gelatins films was evaluated and compared with different types of mammalian gelatins. Alaskan pollock and salmon gelatins were extracted from frozen skins, others were obtained from commercial sources. Water vapor permeability of gelatin films was determined considering differences on percent relative humidity (%RH) at the film underside. Molecular weight distribution, amino acid composition, gel strength, viscoelastic properties, pH, and clarity were also determined for each gelatin. Water vapor permeability of cold‐water fish gelatin films (0.93 gmm/m2hkPa) was significantly lower than warm‐water fish and mammalian gelatin films (1.31 and 1.88 gmm/m2hkPa, respectively) at 25 °C, 0/80 %RH through 0.05‐mm thickness films. This was related to increased hydrophobicity due to reduced amounts of proline and hydroxyproline in cold‐water fish gelatins. As expected, gel strength and gel setting temperatures were lower for cold‐water fish gelatin than either warm‐water fish gelatins or mammalian gelatins. This study demonstrated significant differences in physical, chemical, and rheological properties between mammalian and fish gelatins. Lower water vapor permeability of fish gelatin films can be useful particularly for applications related to reducing water loss from encapsulated drugs and refrigerated or frozen food systems.

Fish gelatin: a renewable material for developing active biodegradable films

“…Similarly, films made from gelatin from 10 channel catfish have also exhibited mechanical and water vapour barrier properties comparable to those of films made from a commercial mammalian gelatin (Zhang et al, 2007). Avena-Bustillos et al (2006) reported the water vapour permeability (WVP) of cold-water fish gelatin films to be significantly lower than that of films made from warm-water fish gelatin or mammalian gelatin and explained the tendency of fish-gelatin films to exhibit lower WVP values than land animal-gelatin films in terms of the amino acid composition, since fish gelatins, especially cold-water fish gelatins, are known to contain higher amounts of hydrophobic amino acids and lower amounts of 20 hydroxyproline. Similarly, using equivalent procedures and plasticizing conditions (sorbitol or glycerol, 25-30 % of gelatin content), the WVP of halibut-skin gelatin films (Carvalho et al, 2008) and tuna-skin gelatin films (Gómez-Guillén et al, 2007) was also reported to be lower than that of mammalian gelatin films (Sobral & Habitante, 2001;Vanin et al, 2005).…”

Physico-chemical properties of gelatin from bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) scales by ultrasound-assisted extraction

“…Physicochemical and functional properties of fish gelatin have been also researched, such as rheological (Gilsenan and RossMurphy 2000;Jamilah and Harvinder 2002;Haug et al 2004;Badii and Howell 2006), emulsifying and foaming (Dickinson and Lopez 2001;Surh et al 2006), film forming (Avena Bustillos et al 2006;Jongjareonrak et al 2006a;Zhang et al 2007), and sensory properties (Choi and Regenstein 2000). Most of the studies have been carried out on fish gelatin extracted from skins or bones of many fish species (Jamilah and Harvinder 2002;Muyonga et al 2004a).…”

The effect of relative humidity on tensile strength and water vapor permeability in chitosan, fish gelatin and transglutaminase edible films

“…As shown, an increase in gelatin concentration resulted in a reduction in tensile strength especially at higher values of relative humidity. It has been reported that even when films prepared from gelatin have good mechanical properties, hydrophilic behavior is poor (Arvanitoyannis et al, 1998;Avena-Bustillos et al, 2006). Chitosan enhances film structure as tensile strength increased when the concentration of chitosan increased registering a maximum of 43 MPa for films without gelatin.…”

“…Like most proteins, gelatin-based films generally have good barrier properties against oxygen, and relatively good tensile properties, but water vapor permeability (WVP) is poor due to the hydrophilic nature of gelatin (Gennadios & Weller, 1990;Arvanitoyannis et al, 1998;Patil et al, 2000;Bigi et al, 2002, Avena-Bustillos et al, 2006. Recent studies have found that the physicochemical properties of gelatin film can be improved by adding other constituents, such as chitosan and transglutaminase; compounds that modify its structural composition (Tharanathan, 2003).…”