Mechanical, physico-chemical, and antimicrobial properties of gelatin-based film incorporated with catechin-lysozyme

Background: Microbial activity is a primary cause of deterioration in many foods and is often responsible for reduced quality and safety. Food-borne illnesses associated with E. coli O157:H7, S. aureus, S. enteritidis and L. monocytogenes are a major public health concern throughout the world. A number of methods have been employed to control or prevent the growth of these microorganisms in food. Antimicrobial packaging is one of the most promising active packaging systems for effectively retarding the growth of food spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms. The aim of this study was to determine the mechanical, physico-chemical properties and inhibitory effects of the fish gelatin films against selected food spoilage microorganisms when incorporated with catechin-lysozyme. Results: The effect of the catechin-lysozyme combination addition (CLC: 0, 0.125, 0.25, and 0.5%, w/v) on fish gelatin film properties was monitored. At the level of 0.5% addition, the CLC showed the greatest elongation at break (EAB) at 143.17% with 0.039 mm thickness, and the lowest water vapor permeability (WVP) at 6.5 x 10(-8) g.mm.h(-1).cm(-2).Pa-1, whereas the control showed high tensile strength (TS) and the highest WVP. Regarding color attributes, the gelatin film without CLC addition gave the highest lightness (L* 91.95) but lowest in redness (a* 1.29) and yellowness (b* 2.25) values. The light transmission of the film did not significantly decrease and nor did film transparency (p>0.05) with increased CLC. Incorporating CLC could not affect the film microstructure. The solubility of the gelatin based film incorporated with CLC was not affected, especially at a high level of addition (p>0.05). Inhibitory activity of the fish gelatin film against E. coli, S. aureus, L. innocua and S. cerevisiae was concentration dependent. Conclusions: These findings suggested that CLC incorporation can improve mechanical, physico-chemical, and antimicrobial properties of the resulting films, thus allowing the films to become more applicable in active food packaging.