title: Effect of chitosan based active packaging film on the keeping quality of chilled stored barracuda fish.
abstract: In the present study, active antimicrobial (AM) packaging films were prepared from chitosan (CH) incorporated with ginger (Zingiber officinale) essential oil at different concentrations (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 % v/v) and characterized. GC-MS analysis revealed zingiberene (22.54 ± 0.13), geranial (12.34 ± 0.33), β-sesquiphellandrene (8.14 ± 0.14), camphene (7.44 ± 0.54) and neral (5.45 ± 0.23) as the major components of essential oil extracted from ginger. Addition of ginger essential oil (GEO) improved the AM activity of the CH film against food borne pathogens, without significantly (p < 0.05) affecting the mechanical properties of the film. CH film with GEO was more effective against Gram-positive bacteria than Gram-negative bacteria and maximum antibacterial property against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was shown by 0.3 % GEO added CH film. In a further experiment, steaks of barracuda (Sphyraena jello) fish were wrapped with the CH-GEO (0.3 %) film and stored at 2 °C for 20 days. Throughout the storage period, the total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) value and total mesophilic count of fish steak wrapped with the CH-GEO film were significantly (p < 0.05) lesser than both the unwrapped control fish steak and aerobically packed fish steak in synthetic multilayer film of ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) (nylon, EVOH and polyethylene). Sensorily, CH-GEO film wrapped sample was acceptable till the end of storage for 20 days compared to 12 days for unwrapped control and fish steak packed in EVOH film. The results indicate that the developed CH-GEO film is efficient in extending the storage life of fish.
authors.affiliation: Fish Processing Division, Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Veraval Research Centre, Veraval, Gujarat 362 269 India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Remya
authors.affiliation: Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Willingdon Island, Cochin, Kerala 682 029 India.
authors.forename: C O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Mohan
authors.affiliation: Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Willingdon Island, Cochin, Kerala 682 029 India.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bindu
authors.affiliation: Fish Processing Division, Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Veraval Research Centre, Veraval, Gujarat 362 269 India.
authors.forename: G K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Sivaraman
authors.affiliation: Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Andheri (W), Mumbai, Maharashtra 400 061 India.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Venkateshwarlu
authors.affiliation: Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Willingdon Island, Cochin, Kerala 682 029 India.
authors.forename: C N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Ravishankar
keywords: Antimicrobial film; Barracuda fish; Chitosan; Essential oil; Shelf-life