Self-stick membrane based on grafted gum Arabic as active food packaging for cheese using cinnamon extract.

Abstract Encapsulation of volatile essential oils has been investigated to provide an active food packaging (AFP) with more control over their fast release and pungent smell. In this work, Gum Arabic-based adhesive membrane was developed as a self-stick AFP material, delivering cinnamon extract oil (CEO) in vapor phase. Gum Arabic (GA) was grafted with butyl acrylate (BA) and hydroxyethyl methacrylate [GA-g-poly(BA-HEMA)]. Adhesive membrane was characterized by means of spectral, physicochemical and rheological analysis. GA-adhesive membrane made of 5% wt/v GA, 3.5 m mol HEMA, and 87 m mol BA with 21 N/m tack are loaded with 4, 8 and 10% v/v of CEO and used for antimicrobial bioassays. GA-g-poly(BA-HEMA) membrane prolonged CEO release up to 2 days. 4% CEO suppressed Gram negative bacteria while 8% v/v showed superior activities against both Gram negative and positive bacteria. Shelf-life of cheese samples, packed with the self-stick membranes loaded with all cinnamon extract 8% v/v, has extended from 3 to 8 weeks. Cheese samples that inoculated with either by Gram negative or positive bacteria and packed in plastic boxes with the self-stick AFP (8% CEO), showed significantly reduced in the total bacteria counts.