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Review
. 2021 Sep 26;10(10):2282.
doi: 10.3390/foods10102282.

Natural Antimicrobials as Additives for Edible Food Packaging Applications: A Review

Sneh Punia Bangar  1 , Vandana Chaudhary  2 , Neha Thakur  3 , Priyanka Kajla  4 , Manoj Kumar  5 , Monica Trif  6
Affiliations
Review

Natural Antimicrobials as Additives for Edible Food Packaging Applications: A Review

Sneh Punia Bangar et al. Foods. .

Abstract

Edible packaging is a swiftly emerging art of science in which edible biopolymers like lipids, polysaccharides, proteins, resins, etc., and other consumable constituents extracted from various non-conventional sources are used alone or imbibed together. Edible packaging with antimicrobial components had led to the development of the hypothesis of active packaging which safeguards the quality of foods as well as health of consumers. Natural antimicrobial agents (NAMAs) like essential oils from spices, bioactive compounds derived from vegetables and fruits, animal and microorganism derived compounds having antimicrobial properties can be potentially used in edible films as superior replcement for synthetic compounds, thus serving the purpose of quality and heath. Most of the natural antimicrobial agents enjoy GRAS status and are safer than their synthetic counterparts. This review focuses on updated literature on the sources, properties and potential applications of NAMAs in the food industry. This review also analyzes the biodegradability and biocompatibility and edibility properties of NAMAs enriched films and it can be concluded that NAMAs are better substitutes but affect the organoleptic as well as the mechanical properties of the films. Despite many advantages, the inclusion of NAMAs into the films needs to be investigated more to quantify the inhibitory concentration without affecting the properties of films and exerting potential antimicrobial action to ensure food safety.

Keywords: bacteriocins; bacteriophages; casting methods; edible films; essential oils; food applications; natural antimicrobial additives.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sources of natural antimicrobial agents as additives in edible packaging systems.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Various methods of film formation (a) solvent casting (b) compression moulding (c) extrusion method.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Various methods of film formation (a) solvent casting (b) compression moulding (c) extrusion method.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Various methods of film application (a) knife coating (b) fluidized-bed processing method (c) panning (d) spraying and electrostatic spraying (e) dip coating (f) electro spinning.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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