Aim:The current study focuses on development of high oxygen barrier multi-layered packaging film for shelf life extension of Ready-to-Cook (RTC) idli batter.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Food Packaging and System Development at IndianInstitute of Food Processing Technology, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India, between Aug 2018 and Dec 2019. Methodology: The developed multi-layered film composed with polypropylene (PP) nanocomposite by depositing silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) on PP (0.010 mm) film and attached with different thickness of barrier layers were PP (0.010-0.053 mm) and ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH 32%) film (0.066 mm) using layer-by-layer (LbL) process. The physical and chemical characteristics of commercial (A) and all developed multi-layered (B, C, D, E and F) films were tested for barrier and mechanical properties. Gaikwad et al.; IRJPAC, 21(1): 13-27, 2020; Article no.IRJPAC.54882 14 Results and Discussion: The SEM analysis confirmed that the developed PP nanocomposite multi-layered films have a presence of SiO 2 with quasi-spherical structure with diameter ranging from 200 to 500 nm. FTIR analysis also identified the presence of Si-O-Si group on all the developed PP nanocomposite films at wavenumber ranges from 1100-900 cm -1 and 467 cm -1 . The film composed with PP++SiO 2 +EVOH (sample F) showed lower in oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of 452.46±33.94 cc/m 2 /24h and water vapour transmission rate (WVTR) of 1.07±0.16 g/m 2 day. The batter stored in sample F film help to extend the shelf life upto 33 h at ambient temperature and commercially stored batter spoiled quickly (24 h) at ambient temperature.
Original Research Article