Investigation the effect of ZnO and β-glucan on chemical and microbial characteristic of gelatin based biodegradable film over storage of chicken fillet

Owning to drawbacks of synthetic polymers, biodegradable packaging materials (biopolymers) have received more attention both in studies and industrial applications. However, compared to conventional packaging, the biodegradable materials have some limitation must be eliminated either by using composite preparation method or introduction of nanotechnology. Inclusion of metal nanoparticles and their oxides are of the new approaches to improve the properties of packaging films. Therefore, the present study attempted to investigate the effect of ZnO (0, 2.5 and 5%) and β-glucan (0, 10 and 20%) incorporation on chemical and microbial properties of gelatin based biodegradable film over storage of chicken fillet. Results showed that incorporation the both of ZnO and β-glucan have significantly (p<0.01) improved the barrier properties against both of moisture absorption and water vapor permeability and the best properties obtained with film containing 5% of ZnO and 20% β-glucan. In addition, based on microbial tests result, it was obvious that the ZnO loaded films have antimicrobial properties and the highest inhibition activity obtained with 5% of ZnO against the all of studied pathogenic bacteria. Accordingly, the film containing 5% ZnO and 20% β-glucan is introduced as the most effective film for packaging of chicken fillets.