STARCH BIOACTIVE AEROGELS FOR FOOD PACKAGING

Bioactive packaging is a current trend in food industries aiming to interact directly within food products in order to increase its shelf life and safety. The development of starch aerogels is a great alternative to promote controlled release of phenolic compounds, as that presented in the pinhão coat, which has high antioxidant activity. The pinhão coat is an underexplored residue which its’ extract present potential as a renewable and biodegradable additive for bioactive food packaging production. The objective of this study was to produce starch/pinhão coat extract aerogels for water absorption and controlled release of phenolic compounds. The aerogels were developed by gelatinization of corn starch (5 g of starch/50 mL of distilled water) and the pinhão coat extract was incorporated in the concentrations of 5 and 10% (w/w). The aerogels were evaluated by morphology using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), water swelling by immersing the aerogels in water for 24 h and in vitro release over 48 h in food simulant medium of hydrophilic food products (ethanol 10%). The cross-section morphology of the aerogels showed homogeneous morphology within porous. The aerogels preserved their structure when soaked into water, presenting high water swelling varying from 679.4 ± 8.4 to 716.6 ± 0.9% (10 and 5% of pinhão coat extract aerogels, respectively), not differing statistically (p ˃0.05). The in vitro release was higher for the aerogels within 10% of pinhão coat extract presenting a maximum release of 34% of the bioactive, while the aerogels with 5% of extract released a maximum of 28%. Both aerogels presented a gradual and controlled release over 48 h. The starch/pinhão coat extract aerogels showed integrity, were able to sorb high amounts of water and showed to be great biodegradable material for controlled release of bioactive compounds. Thus, the aerogels are promisor for bioactive food packaging applications.