Development of functional hydroxyethyl cellulose-based composite films for food packaging applications

Xueqin Zhang; Haoqi Guo; Wenhan Luo; Guojian Chen; Naiyu Xiao; Gengsheng Xiao; Chuanfu Liu

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2022.989893

Development of functional hydroxyethyl cellulose-based composite films for food packaging applications

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2022 Sep 29:10:989893. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.989893. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Xueqin Zhang^{1

2

3

4}, Haoqi Guo¹, Wenhan Luo^{1

2

3}, Guojian Chen^{1

2

3}, Naiyu Xiao^{1

2

3}, Gengsheng Xiao^{1

2

3}, Chuanfu Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Light Industry and Food Technology, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, China.
² Academy of Contemporary Agricultural Engineering Innovations, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, China.
³ Guangdong Key Laboratory of Science and Technology of Lingnan Specialty Food, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Cellulose-based functional composite films can be a good substitute for conventional plastic packaging to ensure food safety. In this study, the semi-transparent, mechanical strengthened, UV-shielding, antibacterial and biocompatible films were developed from hydroxyethyl cellulose Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and ε-polylysine (ε-PL) were respectively used as reinforcing agent and antibacterial agent, and chemical cross-linking among these three components were constructed using epichlorohydrin The maximum tensile strength and elongation at break were 95.9 ± 4.1 MPa and 148.8 ± 2.6%, respectively. TG-FTIR and XRD analyses indicated that chemical structure of the composite films could be well controlled by varying component proportion. From UV-Vis analysis, the optimum values of the percentage of blocking from UV-A and UV-B and ultraviolet protection factor values were 98.35%, 99.99% and 60.25, respectively. Additionally, the composite films exhibited good water vapor permeability, swelling behavior, antibacterial activity and biocompatibility. In terms of these properties, the shelf life of grapes could be extended to 6 days after packing with the composite film.

Keywords: UV-shielding; antibacterial activity; chemical cross-linking; composite film; hydroxyethyl cellulose.