Owing to the increasing environmental concerns and requirements for high-quality foods, edible films and coatings (based on proteins, polysaccharides, natural phenolic active substances, etc.) are being developed as effective alternatives to traditional plastic packaging. Gelatin is extracted from collagen. It is an ideal material for food packaging due to its versatile advantages such as low price, polymerization, biodegradability, good antibacterial and antioxidant properties, etc. However, gelatin film exists poor waterproof and mechanical properties, which limit its developments and applications in food packaging. Previous studies show that pure gelatin can be modified by adding active ingredients and incorporating them with bio-polymers to improve its mechanical properties, aiming to achieve the desirable effect of preservation. This review mainly shows the preparation and molding ways of gelatin-based edible films and the applications of gelatin modified with other biopolymers. Furthermore, this review provides the latest advances in gelatin-based biodegradable packaging and food applications that exhibit outstanding advantages in food preservation.
Keywords: edible film and coating; fresh application; gelatin packaging; modification.