Biodegradable packaging antimicrobial activity

Abstract Edible films and coatings can be used to deliver antimicrobial compounds that inhibit food product spoilage by contaminating microorganisms, increasing product shelf life by several folds. Antimicrobial compounds can be naturally present in the raw material that is employed to produce the packaging, or they can be purposefully added to this material. Some antimicrobial compounds have been extracted from plants, and their antimicrobial activities have been evaluated in different polymeric matrixes. Antimicrobial agent release and delivery depend on the biopolymer that composes the film matrix and the environmental conditions during storage. In this chapter, we depict the use of natural antimicrobial compounds to obtain antimicrobial packaging, the properties of these materials, and the various techniques that are used to assess the edible packaging antimicrobial action. Finally, we present some results regarding active films produced from gelatin/starch blend films added with curcumin and cross-linked with citric acid.