Development and characterization of corn starch-gelatin based edible films incorporated with mango and pineapple for active packaging

Abstract The effect of corn starch-gelatin (CSG) films enriched (5-15% w/v) separately with mango (puree and peel) and pineapple pomace were characterized to analyse the functional properties for active packaging. The incorporation of mango puree (MP), MP with peel (MPP) and pineapple pomace (PP) improved the physicochemical properties including moisture content, swelling index, thickness and opacity, while tensile strength and elongation at break was better for the control CSG films. The biological properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial activity and total phenolic content were increased with increase in concentration of all the films. The FTIR analysis showed a good interaction and blending of all the film constituents and the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed a closer resemblance of the films with that of the control. All films showed more than 50% biodegradability after 15 days. These biodegradable films from these tropical fruits with enhanced properties have the potential to be utilized for the formulation of edible food-packaging materials in the near future.