Production of functional packaging materials by use of biopreservatives

Abstract

In this study, partially purified lyophilized lysozyme (LSZ) and lactoperoxidase (LPS) from chicken egg white and bovine whey were incorporated into zein and alginate films, respectively. The LSZ showed very low affinity to zein films. Thus, when zein films incorporated with 63-455 .g/cm2 (187-1318 U/ cm2) LSZ was exposed to release tests in distilled water, the enzyme released rapidly from the films with release rates of 9 to 29 U/cm2/min. The ethanol used in film making caused significant activation of the LSZ. Therefore, the released LSZ activity from zein films was mostly 130-300 % higher than the activity incorporated into films. On the other hand, the LPS incorporated into alginate films showed a very high affinity to these films and immobilized.The incorporation of 0.53 or 1.06 mg/cm2 proteins such as crude thermally processed chick-pea proteins (TP-CP) and sericine in combination with LSZ and LPS into zein or alginate films increased the antioxidant activity of edible films significantly.In zein films, the incorporation of antioxidant proteins reduced the total activity of LSZ released from the films between 50 % and 75 %, but increased the immobilized enzyme activity 3.5-15 fold. On the other hand, incorporation of antioxidant proteins into alginate films enhanced LPS activity slightly to moderately. The results of this study clearly showed the good potential of edible films and natural biopreservatives in active packaging.