11
Carbon dioxide emitters The antimicrobial capacity of CO 2 has been widely used
in the food industry to prolong the food shelf-life. This gas molecule is soluble in
the aqueous and fatty phases of foods, thus generating carbonic acid, which acidifies
the food. In this way, CO 2 is involved in complex mechanisms which inhibit the
growth of many spoilage bacteria. It is worth mentioning that the antimicrobial
effect of CO 2 depends on the solubility rate and the dissolved amount of this gas in
food products. In this sense, the activity of this gas is proportional to its partial
pressure. For this reason, the CO 2 concentration in headspace of packaging defines
the antimicrobial efficiency to avoid the growth of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria,
thus extending the shelf-life of fresh packaged foods.
Antimicrobial releasers These agents are one of the most investigated active compounds considering that microbial growth is the main responsible for food putrefaction (Álvarez et al. 2018). Some microorganisms that cause loss of food quality and
safety are Aspergillus spp., Bacillus cereus, Candida spp., Escherichia coli
O157:H7, Klebsiella spp., Lactobacillus spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas
spp., Rhizopus spp., Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Torulopsis spp.,
among others (Otoni et al. 2016; Ahmed et al. 2017). Consequently, antimicrobial
compounds are one of the classes of active agents having the largest number of commercial products with reference to other packaging systems. These products comprise emitting sachets and absorbent pads containing active agents based on allyl
isothiocyanate, chlorine dioxide, ethanol vapor emitting, glucose oxidase, natamycin, silver zeolite, silver (Ag), sulfur dioxide and triclosan (Fang et al. 2017). These
compounds are mainly used for packaged products such as bread, cheese, dried fish,
fruits, meat and vegetables (Kapetanakou and Skandamis 2016; Otoni et al. 2016;
Haghighi-Manesh and Azizi 2017; Yildirim et al. 2018). Examples of these commercial AP are AgIon®, Bactiblock®, Biomaster®, Food-touch®, IonPure®,
Irgaguard®, Sanic Films, SANICO®, Surfacine® and Wasaouro® (Realini and
Marcos 2014; Otoni et al. 2016; Barska and Wyrwa 2017). However, sachet-based
active systems are not well accepted by consumers, as they are considered as foreign devices within food packaging (Restuccia et al. 2010). The main reason of this
disapproval is based on the risk of accidental breakage, leading to an involuntary
consumption of sachet content. Furthermore, an additional operation is required to
place sachets or pads in each packaging, which is done manually, thereby leading to
a lower packaging rate and higher production cost (Otoni et al. 2016). Another disadvantage of these devices is that they are not suitable for liquid foods since their
contact can lead to the spillage of content. Given these disadvantages related to
active sachets or pads, there is a trend to incorporate natural antimicrobial compounds into packaging material to protect food from microorganism’s attack. Thus,
much attention is paid from academic and industrial sector, resulting in extensive
research in this field. In this chapter, special emphasis will be given to antimicrobial
packaging films for food applications.
2 Active Packaging Films Based on Polyolefins Modified by Organic and Inorganic…
Carbon dioxide emitters The antimicrobial capacity of CO 2 has been widely used
in the food industry to prolong the food shelf-life. This gas molecule is soluble in
the aqueous and fatty phases of foods, thus generating carbonic acid, which acidifies
the food. In this way, CO 2 is involved in complex mechanisms which inhibit the
growth of many spoilage bacteria. It is worth mentioning that the antimicrobial
effect of CO 2 depends on the solubility rate and the dissolved amount of this gas in
food products. In this sense, the activity of this gas is proportional to its partial
pressure. For this reason, the CO 2 concentration in headspace of packaging defines
the antimicrobial efficiency to avoid the growth of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria,
thus extending the shelf-life of fresh packaged foods.
Antimicrobial releasers These agents are one of the most investigated active compounds considering that microbial growth is the main responsible for food putrefaction (Álvarez et al. 2018). Some microorganisms that cause loss of food quality and
safety are Aspergillus spp., Bacillus cereus, Candida spp., Escherichia coli
O157:H7, Klebsiella spp., Lactobacillus spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas
spp., Rhizopus spp., Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Torulopsis spp.,
among others (Otoni et al. 2016; Ahmed et al. 2017). Consequently, antimicrobial
compounds are one of the classes of active agents having the largest number of commercial products with reference to other packaging systems. These products comprise emitting sachets and absorbent pads containing active agents based on allyl
isothiocyanate, chlorine dioxide, ethanol vapor emitting, glucose oxidase, natamycin, silver zeolite, silver (Ag), sulfur dioxide and triclosan (Fang et al. 2017). These
compounds are mainly used for packaged products such as bread, cheese, dried fish,
fruits, meat and vegetables (Kapetanakou and Skandamis 2016; Otoni et al. 2016;
Haghighi-Manesh and Azizi 2017; Yildirim et al. 2018). Examples of these commercial AP are AgIon®, Bactiblock®, Biomaster®, Food-touch®, IonPure®,
Irgaguard®, Sanic Films, SANICO®, Surfacine® and Wasaouro® (Realini and
Marcos 2014; Otoni et al. 2016; Barska and Wyrwa 2017). However, sachet-based
active systems are not well accepted by consumers, as they are considered as foreign devices within food packaging (Restuccia et al. 2010). The main reason of this
disapproval is based on the risk of accidental breakage, leading to an involuntary
consumption of sachet content. Furthermore, an additional operation is required to
place sachets or pads in each packaging, which is done manually, thereby leading to
a lower packaging rate and higher production cost (Otoni et al. 2016). Another disadvantage of these devices is that they are not suitable for liquid foods since their
contact can lead to the spillage of content. Given these disadvantages related to
active sachets or pads, there is a trend to incorporate natural antimicrobial compounds into packaging material to protect food from microorganism’s attack. Thus,
much attention is paid from academic and industrial sector, resulting in extensive
research in this field. In this chapter, special emphasis will be given to antimicrobial
packaging films for food applications.
2 Active Packaging Films Based on Polyolefins Modified by Organic and Inorganic…