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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

To satisfy the need of developing eco-friendly flexible antimicrobial packaging film with minimum use of synthetic chemical ingredients, the present study examined the efficacy of citric acid (CA) as cross-linking agent and essential oils (EOs), viz., cinnamon essential oil (CEO) and oregano essential oil (OEO) as natural antimicrobials in corn starch-polyvinyl alcohol (CS-PVA) film. Compared to film prepared from filmogenic solution (FS) containing 75 kg CS+8.75 kg PVA+24.6 kg glycerol per m3 FS, film additionally containing CA at 0.07 kg/kg CS indicated 95% higher ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and 27% lower water vapor permeability (WVP). Film developed with incorporation of CEO and OEO at 1.875 m3 in 100 m3 FS (CS:PVA= 8.5:1) containing CA at 0.07 kg/kg CS exhibited antimicrobial action against Staphylococcus aureus. Added advantage was, both EOs could reduce WVP of film with no EO by about 50%, though CEO exhibited better antimicrobial action. Structural alteration in film matrix due to incorporation of EOs was evident from FTIR and SEM analyses. Thus, from the overall results, CEO (at 1.875 m3 /100 m3 FS) incorporated CS-PVA film cross-linked with CA, in prescribed amounts, was found to be the suitable antimicrobial film with appreciable mechanical properties (UTS ≈4 MPa, Elongation ≈50%) and water vapor permeability (≈0.5×10-6 kg.m.m-2.kPa-1.h-1).

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