摘要
Plastics are advantageous in food packaging due to their mechanical strength,flexibility,and low-cost nature.However,their prolonged degradation is not environmentally friendly.Therefore,there is a need to develop alternative food packaging systems.To this end,nature-derived materials such as milk proteins provide a viable solution.In this study,sodium caseinate(SC)based nanobiocomposite films were developed with the incorpo-ration of halloysite nanoclay(HS)and geraniol essential oil(GR).The films exhibited reduced moisture content(from 13.47%±0.84%-7.85%±0.72%),water solubility(from 20.55%±0.80%-9.47%±1.06%),water vapor transmission rate(from 84.50±8.06 to 37.33±6.46 g h^(-1)m^(-2))and increased surface hydrophobicity(contact angle from 53.27±2.97 to 82.70±1.42◦)compared to pure SC films.The films were uniform with a semi-crystalline microstructure and an increase in theβ-sheet toα-helix ratio was observed due to the increase in the loading concentration of HS and GR.Adding HS and GR improved the mechanical properties,and Young’s modulus increased from 69.85±6.12 to 110.12±6.99 MPa.The films demonstrated potent antimicrobial ef-ficacy against Gram-positive Bacillus cereus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli.The SC/HS/GR dispersions could extend the shelf-life of capsicum fruits by reducing weight loss and color change and maintaining firmness.Overall,this research highlights the potential of milk protein-based films incorporated with halloysite and ge-raniol as sustainable and effective solutions for active food packaging applications.
