{"id":59318,"date":"2018-12-21T07:32:59","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T06:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=59318"},"modified":"2018-12-18T14:08:58","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T13:08:58","slug":"biodegradable-edible-film-kills-pathogens-on-seafood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/biodegradable-edible-film-kills-pathogens-on-seafood\/","title":{"rendered":"Biodegradable, edible film kills pathogens on seafood"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fresh
“If you put the antimicrobial into an edible film, and then dip the shrimp into the film and pull it out, that film is going to form around the shrimp. The film then releases the antimicrobials over time,” said Catherine Cutter, professor of food science. Image: \u00a9 Getty Images \/ Alex Raths<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A biodegradable, edible film made with plant starch and antimicrobial compounds may control the growth of foodborne pathogens on seafood, according to a group of international researchers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“We have the ability to develop a film with antimicrobial activity that can kill foodborne pathogens on food surfaces,” said Catherine Cutter<\/a>, professor of food science<\/a>, Penn State. “Given the recent outbreaks that we have seen with a number of food products, coming up with something that can be used by the\u00a0industry\u00a0to kill microorganisms on the surfaces of food is a noble area of research to investigate.”<\/p>\n

Seafood may be contaminated with bacterial pathogens, such as vibrio and salmonella. Vibrio naturally occur in marine environments, and salmonella can contaminate seafood during production or processing. Both types of bacteria are linked to gastrointestinal problems when consumed. Because both types of bacteria can survive long-term\u00a0freezing conditions, the contamination of these bacteria is a concern\u00a0for the seafood industry.<\/p>\n

Freezing does not kill bacteria. However, when freezing food, ice crystals can form from the water in food. The ice crystals, Cutter says, can act like “daggers” and pierce the bacterial cell wall, causing damage to the cell.<\/p>\n

“Vibrio and salmonella are\u00a0somewhat\u00a0susceptible to freezing,” said Cutter. “So, if you treat bacterial cells with antimicrobials and then freeze them, the approach can be more lethal.”<\/p>\n

The researchers\u00a0from Thailand\u00a0used a blend of thermoplastic starch, a biodegradable polymer made from cassava \u2014 tapioca powder, and a gelatin coating containing antimicrobials known as Nisin Z and lauric arginate (LAE).<\/p>\n

The\u00a0team of researchers\u00a0in Thailand\u00a0then created a “culture cocktail” of the bacteria and inoculated slices of tiger prawn and big-eye snapper. The\u00a0experimentally-inoculated seafood samples were tested using different compositions of Nisin Z and LAE to see which variations would give the “best kill.” After dipping the samples into the edible film composed with antimicrobials, some of the slices were vacuum packaged and chilled for up to a month, and other samples were frozen for 90 days.<\/p>\n

“If\u00a0you just dip shrimp into any\u00a0antimicrobial \u2014 it’s not going to stick\u00a0very well,” said Cutter. “But if you put the antimicrobial into\u00a0an edible\u00a0film, and then dip the shrimp into the film and pull it out, that film is going to form around the shrimp. The film then releases the antimicrobials over time.”<\/p>\n

Cutter emphasizes the importance of a “controlled release” of the antimicrobials over time in order to get the “maximum kill,” which is made possible by the edible film’s unique properties.\u00a0Applying just the antimicrobials directly onto the food products would result in the antimicrobials dripping off or diluting.<\/p>\n

“If you’re going to make an edible film, you want to make a film that has similar properties to plastic,” said Cutter. “You want these edible films to be transparent because consumers aren’t going to buy something they can’t see,\u00a0you want them to be flexible, and you want the film to mold to the food product.\u00a0By using edible films,\u00a0you are doing it in a way that is biodegradable.”<\/p>\n

Cutter said a big challenge\u00a0that the food industry faces\u00a0is reducing the reliance on\u00a0plastic packaging, something\u00a0the food industry has been using for the past 40-50 years.<\/p>\n

“How do you get the industry to change something they\u00a0and consumers\u00a0are so used to using?” said Cutter. “This research\u00a0demonstrates,\u00a0through proof of concept, that antimicrobial edible films work. So how do we get this\u00a0type of packaging\u00a0into a commercial application? That’s the next logical step in the progression of this\u00a0type of\u00a0research.”<\/p>\n

The team’s findings will be published in a paper issue February of 2019 in International Journal of Food Microbiology.<\/p>\n

Others\u00a0responsible for this project include Rinrada Pattanayaiying, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand; Amporn Sane, Kasetsart University, Thailand; and Penchom Photjanataree, Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A biodegradable, edible film made with plant starch and antimicrobial compounds may control the growth of foodborne pathogens on seafood, according to a group of international researchers. “We have the ability to develop a film with antimicrobial activity that can kill foodborne pathogens on food surfaces,” said Catherine Cutter, professor of food science, Penn State. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[11270,13747,7105],"supplier":[14972,7016,15220,15219],"class_list":["post-59318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biodegradability","tag-film","tag-packaging","supplier-kasetsart-university","supplier-pennsylvania-state-university","supplier-prince-of-songkla-university-psu","supplier-thailand-institute-of-scientific-and-technological-research-tistr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59318"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=59318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}