Active Wheat Gluten Films Obtained by Compression Molding

FRANCISCO ZUBELDÍA; MARÍA ROBERTA ANSORENA; NORMA E. MARCOVICH

Porto de Galinhas

Simposio; XIV Simposio Latinoamericano de Polímeros, XII Congreso Iberoamericano de Polímeros; 2014

Edible films based on glycerol-plasticized wheat gluten protein and thyme essential oil, which was added as antimicrobial agent, were prepared by intensive mixing and compression molding. Antimicrobial activity tests showed that thyme oil presented a meaningful antimicrobial activity against both native microflora and bacterial strains, although the type of bacteria influences its effectiveness. The resulting films were characterized in terms of moisture sorption, total soluble matter, water vapor permeability and tensile properties. The addition of thyme oil causes a decrease of all the measured properties with respect to those of the control film (0% thyme oil), which is attributed to the interference of the oil in the formation of the protein molecular network.