Traditional Sensory Evaluation and Bionic Electronic Nose as Innovative Tools for the Packaging Performance Evaluation of Chitosan Film

Abstract

Inspired by the natural epidermis of animals and plants with antioxidant and antibacterial properties, the aim of this research was to characterize and analyze the effects of the chitosan concentrations on properties of glycerol plasticized chitosan (GPC) film and to investigate the suitability of sensory evaluation and bionic electronic nose (b-electronic nose) detection to assess the freshness of ground beef packaged in the GPC film. The increase in chitosan concentration resulted in an increase in solubility value, total color differences and color intensity of chitosan films. The water vapor permeability (WVP) of the GPC films decreased with the increasing of the chitosan concentration and then increased at higher chitosan concentrations. Longer storage time led to poorer freshness of the ground beef and the GPC film could keep beef samples fresher and delay the deterioration of the beef. Both the traditional sensory evaluation and b-electronic nose technology were fit for evaluating the quality and shelf-life of ground beef, which could advantageously be applied in the future for analyzing other bionic food packaging materials.

Preparation and Characterization of Functional Films Based on Chitosan and Corn Starch Incorporated Tea Polyphenols

“…For the cling film covering fruits and vegetables, a low-solubility film is required to ensure the integrity of the structure. For some edible films for packaging candies and cakes, high-solubility films should be selected [36]. The water solubility is that water molecules can form hydrogen bonds with groups such as -NH2 or -OH on the surface of the composite membrane during the initial stage of blend hydration [37].…”