Environmentally Friendly Bacterial Cellulose Films for Food Packaging

Abstract

Use of biodegradable polymer films such as polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), chitosan and cellulose as packaging materials in food storage has become an important issue in the storage of food. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of bacterial cellulose films in terms of extending the shelf life of food storage will be determined compared to other petrochemical materials. Bacterial cellulose films were formed by Gluconacetobacter hansenii HE1 strain. The cellulose layer was dried, sterilized and used as packaging material. Cling wrap was used as a positive control. Sausage specimens purchased from the market were kept in the fridge at 0, 2, 4 and 6 days at +4ºC without wrapping, wrapped with a cling wrap, wrapped with bacterial cellulose film. Colony counts for microbial load were determined by the arithmetic mean, with 3 replicates among each sample group. At the end of the sixth day, the microbial load of the sausage wrapped with bacterial cellulose was found to be as 1,2x104 cfu/mL. However, the microbial load of the sausage wrapped with cling wrap was found to be as 2,7x105 cfu/mL while the microbial load of the non-wrapped sausages was found to be as 1,0x106 cfu/mL. It has been observed that microbial contamination with airborne filtration through porous, thin, web-like structure, which bacterial cellulose has, can filtrate air-borne contamination better than petrochemical-derived cling wrap. For this reason, bacterial cellulose can be used as a packaging material to store foodstuffs and to extend shelf life.

Keywords

• Bacterial cellulose
• food packaging
• cling wrap
• microbial load

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