BIOEMBALAGENS DE PECTINA CÍTRICA INCORPORADAS COM NANOPARTICULAS DE ZINCO

Abstract

The food industry shows growing interest in the development of packaging, aiming to improve and preserve the food quality, reducing losses during transport and storage, sustainability, low cost, and product attraction to the consumer through marketing. The biodegradable packaging is a good and cheap alternative, easy to obtain, and not harming the environment. Thus, this study aimed to develop citrus pectin biopackages incorporated with zinc nanoparticles, and to evaluate the post-harvest of papaya coated with the filmogenic solution applied in biopackages. The characterization of the films was carried out and determined their physicochemical (water solubility and water vapor barrier), physical (thickness and opacity), and mechanical characteristics (tensile strength and percentage of elongation at break), as well the thermal properties. To develop biopackages, the following treatments were used: (a) T1 - control treatment (citrus pectin film); (b) T2 - treatment with 0.2% (zinc nanoparticle and 3% pectin); and (c) T3 - treatment with 0.4% (zinc nanoparticles and 3% pectin). To prepare the biopackage, the film-forming solution was produced, adding glycerol as a plasticizer, stirring for 24 h with a magnetic stirrer, and drying at controlled temperatures (25 ºC ± 5 °C) for 72 h. The same filmogenic solutions were prepared and applied to papaya to evaluate and monitor the mass loss, turgor pressure, acidity, and soluble solids, under controlled temperature (60 °C) in Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) for nine days. By these analyzes, it was found that the biopacking has not influenced the mechanical properties, nor the water vapor barrier properties, when incorporated with zinc nanoparticles (NPZ). However, the film-forming coating has potential and can offer a viii shelf life, besides contributing to the industries, regarding to reduce food losses and environmental impacts caused by synthetic packaging. Keywords: Active packaging. Citrus pectin. Permeability. Prolonged service life. Residue.