Active protein films based in gelatin and protein concentrate from S. platensis

N. STEJSKAL; R.A. RUSECKAITE; J. F. MARTUCCI

Simposio; XVI Simposio Latinoamericano de Polimeros (SLAP2018); 2018

INTRODUCTION The interest on bio-based packaging items has steadily grown over the last decades. Gelatin films are excellent oxygen barriers with suitable mechanical properties at low relative humidity, having potential as bio-based packaging materials (1). Since the antioxidant and antibacterial activity of GE is poor (or none), the incorporation of natural active substances or active biopolymers into GE films was gaining broad interest. Spirulina platensis (SP) is a blue-green alga having high protein content (60-70 wt.% of phycobiliproteins), with unique spectral, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties (2). Therefore, the protein concentrate (PC) can be used for blending with GE to impart antioxidant and antibacterial activity to the resultant films. In this contribution, we report the extraction and characterization of proteins from commercially available lyophilized S. platensis and their use in the design of sustainable active food packaging films based on GE and crosslinked with oxidized alginate (OA).