Ferulic acid incorporated active films based on poly(lactide)/poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) blend for food packaging

Active natural antibacterial blend of poly(lactide) - poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PLA-PBAT) incorporated with ferulic acid was formed by solvent casting method. The influences of FA on the structural, colour, optical, thermostability, and antibacterial efficiency of PLA-PBAT blend films were studied. On the incorporation of the FA, thickness of the film was increased by 1.5-10 %. The tensile strength (TS) of the FA incorporated blend film increased to a value of 10.78 MPa at 10 wt% as compared to the control film which has 5.42 MPa. The temperature of degradation of the film increases as the FA content increases in the film. Antibacterial activity has been observed to increase due to the inclusion of the phenolic compound in the composite film against Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli. The composite film has a potential application as an active food packaging due to its antibacterial and UV-light barrier properties.