Development of Nanoencapsulated Curcumin-Based Photoactive Edible Packaging and Its Application on Strawberry Preservation
J. Alejandro Arboleda‐Murillo, Leidy T. Sánchez, Cristian C. Villa
Abstract
One of the most important threads in food packaging is the development of active packaging that releases bioactive molecules to the food products; furthermore, these bioactive molecules can also act as photosensitizers to create a photoactive packaging. In this work, curcumin-loaded nanoemulsions were used to create photoactive films using alginate or pectin as the polymeric matrix. The mechanical and barrier properties, as well as the optical properties, of the films were studied. Furthermore, the films were applied on strawberries that were irradiated under blue light (LED, 450 nm) for 3 min. Results showed that the photoactive films reduced considerably the fungal decay of strawberries while maintaining other properties such as firmness and color.