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. 2023 Aug:113:104251.
doi: 10.1016/j.fm.2023.104251. Epub 2023 Mar 9.

Edible alginate-based films with anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity

Miguel A Cerqueira  1 , Ana Catarina C O Leite  2 , Ana L Tomás  3 , Anna Reichel  3 , Patrícia M Silva  3 , Nuno C Santos  3 , Michele Michelin  4 , Pablo Fuciños  2 , Lorenzo M Pastrana  2
Affiliations

Edible alginate-based films with anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity

Miguel A Cerqueira et al. Food Microbiol. 2023 Aug.

Abstract

The viability of SARS-CoV-2 on food surfaces and its propagation through the food chain has been discussed by several stakeholders, as it may represent a serious public health problem, bringing new challenges to the food system. This work shows for the first time that edible films can be used against SARS-CoV-2. Sodium alginate-based films containing gallic acid, geraniol, and green tea extract were evaluated in terms of their antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. The results showed that all these films have strong in vitro antiviral activity against this virus. However, a higher concentration of the active compound (1.25%) is needed for the film containing gallic acid to achieve similar results to those obtained for lower concentrations of geraniol and green tea extract (0.313%). Furthermore, critical concentrations of the active compounds in the films were used to evaluate their stability during storage. Results showed that gallic acid-loaded films lose their activity from the second week of storage, while films with geraniol and green tea extract only show a drop in activity after four weeks. These results highlight the possibility of using edible films and coatings as antiviral materials on food surfaces or food contact materials, which may help to reduce the spreading of viruses through the food chain.

Keywords: Active film; Antiviral; Edible coating; Packaging; SARS-CoV-2; Shelf-life.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Dose-response behavior of antiviral activity (Mv) and percentage of SARS-CoV-2 activity reduction (R%) using sodium-alginate-based films with different concentrations of: (A) gallic acid (GA), (B) green tea extract (GTE) and (C) geraniol (G). Bars represent the Mv values after a contact time of 60 min. Dots and line represent the corresponding percentages of viral inactivation, being data presented as mean ± standard deviation. The symbol “>” is used when no infectious virus particles were recovered, being assumed a value above the detection limit.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Changes on the antiviral activity (Mv) against SARS-CoV-2 of sodium alginate-based films with 1.25% (w/v) of gallic acid (GA), 0.313% (w/v) of green tea extract (GTE) or 0.313% (w/v) of geraniol (G), over four weeks of storage.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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