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| Author(s): |
Patricia Sayuri Tanada Palmu
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos |
| Defense date: | 2003-07-31 |
| Examining board members: |
Carlos Raimundo Ferreira Grosso;
Theo Guenter Kieckbusch;
Florência Cecília Menegalli;
Fernanda Paula Collares Queiroz;
Fabio Yamashita;
Valdemiro Carlos Sgarbieri;
Rosemary Aparecida de Carvalho
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| Advisor: | Carlos Raimundo Ferreira Grosso |
| Abstract | |
Recently interest in the development of edible films and coatings for foods has grown considerably due to consumer demand for high quality foods and environmental concerns over the disposal of non-renewable food packaging materials. Polysaccharides, proteins and lipids can be used as edible film-forming agents. The objective of this work was the development and characterization of simple, composite and bilayer wheat gluten films with lipids (beeswax and stearic and palmitic acids) and the application of the films and coatings on fresh fruits. The base film was prepared from a solution of gluten, absolute ethanol, glycerol and 6 N ammonium hydroxide to adjust the pH. The composition of the film formulations was calculated according to a 24 factorial planning. The functional properties used to verify the factor effects were mechanical properties (tensile strength and percent elongation at break), oxygen and water vapor permeabilities and solubility in water. The simple film with the best functional properties was used to prepare the composite and bilayer films of wheat gluten, beeswax and a 1:1 blend of stearic and palmitic acid. Other analysis as effect of the relative humidity on the mechanical properties and morphology of the surface by scanning electron microscopy were effected. After this, the application of the gluten-based coatings and films was effected on fresh strawberries maintained upon refrigeration, and the analysis of weight loss, retention of the texture, color, titratable acidity, soluble and total solids, reducing and total sugars and sensory evaluation of appearance to determine the shelf life of the strawberries and of taste to verify the acceptance of the gluten-based coatings, were effected. To complement the study, a reaction of lipofilization of wheat gluten was effected, and it was verified through the percentage of free amino groups by the TNBS method. Biofilms were prepared from the modified gluten and were characterized and compared with the film from unmodified gluten. Another complementary work was the preparation and characterization of biofilms prepared from Brazilian wheat flours and also comparison of the properties with the films from vital gluten (commercial). The results showed that the mechanical properties of the simple films had been influenced by the concentrations of gluten and glycerol, being the most resistant film with higher concentration of gluten and less glycerol. The lowest oxygen permeability was obtained in the film with lower concentration of gluten, glycerol and ethanol and the lowest water vapor permeability was in the film with lower concentration of glycerol. The composite and bilayer films were opaque and the bilayer film with 10% blend of stearic and palmitic acids and beeswax showed the lowest water vapor permeability, however the mechanical resistance and the elongation were low. The morphology observed through the scanning electron microscopy for the simple film of gluten was completely modified when the mixture of palmitic and stearic and beeswax was added. The application of biofilms and coatings in strawberries showed that the bilayer coating of gluten and lipids had a significant effect in the retention of the texture and the reduction of weight loss in the coated fruits. The senescence was decreased in fruits packed with the gluten film verified by the lower parameters in relation to the color of the fruit. The sensory evaluation of the strawberries indicated that the simple coating of gluten and the composite with lipids had kept the quality of the strawberries during the time of storage in terms of appearance and the consumers accepted the flavor of the strawberries with the simple coating. The lipofilization reaction really modified the gluten through the reduction of the percentage of free amino groups, however the film prepared with the lipophilized gluten presented lower mechanical and barrier properties comparing to the film with unmodified gluten. The films prepared from Brazilians ¿semi-hard¿ wheat flours had presented similar mechanical and barrier properties than the film from vital gluten (commercial), being able to be used in substitution (AU) | |