Abstract
This study innovatively produced polymeric active antibacterial films by incorporating zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NP) into linear low-density polyethylene grafted with maleic anhydride (LLDPE-MA) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) using polymer melting and coating of ZnO-NP. It was evaluated the physical properties and antibacterial effects against foodborne pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) by liquid and disk-diffusion in agar tests. The active films presented 1.0, 2.5, and 5.5% of ZnO-NP. The two with higher ZnO-NP content presented similar antibacterial activity, demonstrating that the ZnO-NP availability on the film surface is more important than their total amount. Disk-diffusion in agar showed an inhibition halo for P. aeruginosa in both films with more than 5.0% in ZnO-NP, whereas for S. aureus and S. Typhimurium, the inhibition zones were not detected after 48 h. In liquid tests, P. aeruginosa was the least sensitive microorganism: from 5 log CFU/mL, it reached 9 log CFU/mL in LLDPE-MA films without ZnO-NPs and 7 log CFU/mL in films with 5.5% of ZnO-NPs after 5 days. S. Typhimurium was the most sensitive in the liquid test, with 9 log CFU/mL growth in 5 days for films without ZnO-NPs and 3 log CFU/mL for 5.5% of ZnO-NPs, in 5 days. In conclusion, ZnO-NP incorporated on LLDPE-MA and LDPE films is a promising packaging technology to increase food shelf-life and safety.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Kher Nanotecnologia Química Ltda, Santa Catarina, Brazil, for kindly supplying ZnO nanoparticles.
Funding
This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001 and PRINT/CAPES-UFSC: 88887.310373/2018–00. The authors also received financial support from Laboratório Central de Microscopia Eletrônica at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (LCME-UFSC) for TEM images and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq; Brazil).
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de Souza, R.C., de Moraes, J.O., Haberbeck, L.U. et al. Antibacterial Activity of Low-Density Polyethylene and Low-Density Polyethylene-co-maleic Anhydride Films Incorporated with ZnO Nanoparticles. Food Bioprocess Technol 14, 1872–1884 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-021-02684-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-021-02684-1