Fish gelatin: a renewable material for developing active biodegradable films

Abstract

Most films used to preserve foodstuffs are made from synthetic plastic materials.However, for environmental reasons, attention has recently turned to biodegradable films. Gelatin has been extensively studied for its film forming capacity and applicability as an outer covering to protect food against drying, light, and oxygen. Moreover, it is 5 one of the first materials proposed as a carrier of bioactive components. Gelatins from alternatives to mammalian species are gaining prominence, especially gelatins from marine fish species. Because of their good film-forming abilities, fish gelatins may be a good alternative to synthetic plastics for making films to preserve foodstuffs. The mechanical and barrier properties of these films depend largely on the physical and 10 chemical characteristics of the gelatin, especially the amino acid composition, which is highly species specific, and the molecular weight distribution, which depends mainly on processing conditions. Different film formulations can be developed to extend the films' physical and chemical properties and to add new functional attributes. This paper reviews the most recent scientific literature dealing with films based on gelatins from 15 different fish species and considers various strategies intended to improve the physical properties of such films by combining fish gelatins with such other biopolymers as soy protein isolate, oils and fatty acids, and certain polysaccharides. The use of plasticizers and cross-linking agents is also discussed. Specific attributes, such as antimicrobial and antioxidant activities, may be also conferred by blending the gelatin 20 with chitosan, lysozyme, essential oils, plant extracts, or vitamin C to produce an active packaging biomaterial.

Physico-chemical properties of gelatin from bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) scales by ultrasound-assisted extraction

“…It has been widely used both in food and pharmaceutical industry due to its excellent functional properties. It has been reported that the annual growth rate of gelatin production in the past seven years was about 3-4 % (Gómez-Guillén et al 2009). At present, mammalian gelatins, such as pig and cow gelatin are most widely used in the world.…”

“…At present, mammalian gelatins, such as pig and cow gelatin are most widely used in the world. It had been reported that the worldwide production of gelatin was 326,000 t, with gelatin extraction of pig skin (46 %), bovine hide (29.4 %), pork and cattle bones (23.1 %) and other sources (1.5 %) (Gómez-Guillén et al 2009). However, it is significant to explore new resource for gelatin due to some health-related and social-culture problems.…”

Optimization and physical properties of gelatin extracted from pangasius catfish (Pangasius sutchi) bone

“…Based on the previous studies, this is true in the case of cold-water fish species, such as cod, salmon and alaska pollock. However, researchers have pointed out that gelatin from tropical and subtropical warm-water fish species (tilapia, Nile perch, catfish) might have similar physicochemical properties to that of mammalian, depending on the species, type of raw material and processing conditions (Gilsenan and Ross-Murphy 2000;Gómez-Guillén et al 2009;Jamilah and Harvinder 2002;Muyonga et al 2004;Rawdkuen et al 2010) Research on fish gelatin is important for the development of methods to produce gelatin from fish processing as replacements for mammalian sources. Scale of production and quality of gelatin depend on extraction method (Montero and Gómez-Guillén 2000).…”

Antibacterial performance of bovine lactoferrin-fish gelatine electrospun membranes

“…Several protein-based polymers are already thoroughly explored and among them, gelatine represents one of the most intensively used worldwide with an increasing demand [3]. Gelatine is easily available, transparent, flexible and resilient, rendering a preferred base material vastly used by food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and several specialized industries [4,5].…”