Safakas Konstantinos, Lainioti Georgia C, Koutsodima Pinelopi, Stathopoulou Panagiota, Ladavos Athanasios
Department of Food Science & Technology, University of Patras, GR-30100 Agrinio, Greece.
Department of Sustainable Agriculture, University of Patras, GR-30100 Agrinio, Greece.
Foods. 2025 Jun 12;14(12):2069. doi: 10.3390/foods14122069.
The development of antimicrobial and antioxidant packaging materials is critical for improving food safety and extending shelf life. This study aimed to design and characterize low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (EVA) films incorporating organically modified montmorillonite (OMt) nanocarriers loaded with carvacrol (C) and thymol (T) essential oil components. The incorporation of carvacrol and thymol into OMt was conducted through an evaporation/adsorption method without the use of organic solvents. In the next step, LDPE, EVA and OMtC or OMtT were melt-compounded in order to obtain films. Characterization of the bioactive nanocarriers and films was performed through X-ray diffraction (XRD), tensile testing, oxygen permeability measurements (OTR) and antioxidant assays. Films LDPE/EVA/OMtC and LDPE/EVA/OMtT showed improved mechanical strength and antioxidant activity, with IC values between 0.32 and 0.52 mg/mL. Film with component weight ratio LDPE/EVA/OMtC equal to 80/10/10 also demonstrated enhanced barrier properties and significantly inhibited fungal growth on baguette bread for up to 60 days. These findings highlight the potential of these bioactive films to improve the microbial safety and shelf life of bakery products.
抗菌和抗氧化包装材料的开发对于提高食品安全和延长保质期至关重要。本研究旨在设计并表征低密度聚乙烯（LDPE）和乙烯-醋酸乙烯共聚物（EVA）薄膜，这些薄膜含有负载香芹酚（C）和百里香酚（T）精油成分的有机改性蒙脱石（OMt）纳米载体。通过蒸发/吸附法将香芹酚和百里香酚掺入OMt中，不使用有机溶剂。下一步，将LDPE、EVA和OMtC或OMtT进行熔融共混以获得薄膜。通过X射线衍射（XRD）、拉伸测试、透氧率测量（OTR）和抗氧化测定对生物活性纳米载体和薄膜进行表征。薄膜LDPE/EVA/OMtC和LDPE/EVA/OMtT显示出改善的机械强度和抗氧化活性，IC值在0.32至0.52mg/mL之间。组分重量比为LDPE/EVA/OMtC等于80/10/10的薄膜还表现出增强的阻隔性能，并在长达60天的时间内显著抑制法棍面包上的真菌生长。这些发现突出了这些生物活性薄膜在改善烘焙产品微生物安全性和保质期方面的潜力。
