Digestibility and Toxicology of Edible Coatings and Films

MORENO SILVIA; GIMÉNEZ B,

Edible Films and Coatings: Fundamentals and Applications

CRC Press Taylor & Francis

Lugar: Boca Raton, Florida ; Año: 2016; p. 519 - 529

The research area of edible films and coatings has received a great interest in recent years due to an increased consumer concern in health, nutrition, food safety, and environmental issues. The main advantage of edible coatings and films over traditional synthetics is that they can be consumed with food. A variety of active compounds can be incorporated in edible films, and therefore they can be used both as an active packaging as well as vehicle to deliver compounds which may exert potential beneficial effects in the organism when they are consumed. In this case, the active compounds should be released during digestion to be available for absorption. Although the edible coatings and films are developed by selecting diverse natural-based substances which are expected to be safe, it is essential to know if the stability and bioactivity of the functional ingredients will be affected by the gastrointestinal conditions. However, only a few reports deal with their digestibility and the residual activity of the active compounds incorporated to them after digestion. In addition, possible transformations during or after manufacture and digestion, may convert them into toxic substances for the human. Furthermore, nanomaterials used for creating new coatings and films with improved physical, chemical and biological properties which have encouraged global concern regarding their effect in biological system, at the same time demanding parallel risk assessment studies. Edible films and coatings prepared from substances with different structures and functions have a complex nature, for this reason no single experimental studies can predict accurately their physiologic activity and toxicity in humans. Therefore, for the coatings and films toxicity assessment there is a dilemma in the selection and validation of the test methods to be used. Moreover, their toxicological evaluation may vary from one formulation to another, whereas the toxicological evaluation of well-known components may pose much less problems. Multidisciplinary efforts from biologist, toxicologist and physicist are necessary to facilitate the interlinking of different features assisting in the understanding of cellular responses to coatings and films exposure. This chapter introduces some methods to evaluate how well coatings and films are good in connection with their compatibility in mammalian and remarks some toxicological studies of biodegradable films, coatings and active compounds. At the end, major issues/challenges remaining to be done in the future in this emerging field are disclose.