Advances in biopolymeric active films incorporated with emulsified lipophilic compounds: a review

Author(s)

Dammak, Ilyes ^{[1, 2]} ; Luciano, Carla Giovana ^[1] ; Perez-Cordoba, Luis Jaime ^[1] ; Monteiro, Maria Lucia ^[2] ; Conte-Junior, Carlos Adam ^[2] ; Sobral, Paulo Jose do Amaral ^{[3, 1]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Food Engn, FZEA, Pirassununga, SP - Brazil

^[2] Fed Univ Rio Janeiro UFRJ, Grad Program Food Sci PPGCAL, Inst Chem IQ, Cidade Univ, Ave Athos, Silveira Ramos, 149, Bloco A, BR-21941909 Rio De Janeiro, RJ - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Food Res Ctr FoRC, Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Review article
• Source: RSC ADVANCES; v. 11, n. 45, p. 28148-28168, AUG 31 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

The attention towards active films has increased due to consumer demand for high-quality foods without chemical additives. Active biopolymer-based films have shown great potential for active films by impacting food safety, acting as the carriers of various natural antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds, and decreasing environmental pollution from petrol-derived packaging materials. However, there is a wide range of challenges concerning the different characteristics of biopolymers and plasticizers, often hygroscopic/hydrophilic, compared to numerous lipophilic bioactive compounds. Therefore, recent studies have focused on applying oil-in-water emulsion-based systems to enhance the lipophilic bioactive compounds' dispersibility into the film matrix, improving their performance. It is worth emphasizing that resulting complex systems give rise to new challenges such as (i) dispersion technology of the bioactive compounds with minimum adverse effects on its bioactivities, (ii) interactions between different components of the active films, giving rise to new physicochemical properties, and (iii) the change of the diffusion properties of bioactive compounds into the active films, resulting in different release properties. These challenges are profound and critically discussed in this review, as well as the encapsulation techniques employed in preparing emulsions loaded with lipophilic bioactive compounds for the active film development. An outlook of future directions in the research, development, and application of these active films are given. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/02879-5 - Development of nanocomposites with active principles added as nanoemulsion
• Grantee: Ilyes Dammak
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral