Development of a Starch‐Based Foam System With Oxygen‐Controlled Release

Abstract

Calcium peroxide (CP) offers promising applications in the food industry due to its oxygen‐donating properties. However, the rapid release of oxygen by CP needs to be addressed for fruit preservation applications. In this paper, a starch‐based foam is prepared to embed CP to alleviate this problem. Results show that the starch foam extruded at 150 °C and 150 rpm shows a high foaming ratio of 19.28 and displays a high moisture adsorption capacity of 0.21 g water/g solids when stored at 97% relative humidity (RH), which effectively regulates the water accessibility to CP. The initial oxygen release rate of the embedded CP is reduced from 0.19 to 0.07 mmol L−1 h−1, and the release time is prolonged. The wet‐stored foam shows excellent cushioning ability, with a recovery ratio higher than 72%. The starch‐based active foam with a tunable release of oxygen and cushioning properties can be used as active packaging for fresh fruit transportation and preservation.