Research – Development and characterization of antibacterial packaging film based on poly (vinyl alcohol)/agarose enriched with cinnamon oil

The antibacterial packaging films were produced from poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVOH), agarose, and cinnamon (Cinnamon cassia) oil (CO). The mechanical, antibacterial, water- and UV-barrier properties of the resulting films were fully characterized. Our findings revealed that increasing amount of CO slightly affected the color of resulting film, while the dispersion of CO in polymeric matrix was influenced by CO concentration. UV-barrier property of PVOH/agarose was enhanced by adding a small amount of CO. Tensile strength of the resulting films insignificantly changed (8.94–10.23 MPa) with raising CO content while the flexibility remarkably dropped from 92.63% to 75.49%. Remarkably, the PVOH/agarose containing 1.5% (v/v) CO presented strong inhibition against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Staphylococcus aureus due to the presence of cinnamaldehyde in CO and this inhibitory efficiency was maintained for up to 7 days. Furthermore, the PVOH/agarose film enriched with 1% (v/v) CO was applied for enhancing the storability of bread slices during 50-day storage at room temperature.