A team of food scientists in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has shown that an edible film can be used for wrapping ready-to-eat meat products to deliver a slow release of a naturally occurring antimicrobial agent capable of killing a foodborne pathogen.
In the study, which was published in the March issue of the Journal of Food Safety, the researchers demonstrated the effectiveness of pullulan films containing antimicrobial sakacin A to control Listeria monocytogenes growth.
The research team which included Catherine Cutter, associate professor of food science, John Floros, professor and head of food science, and Valentina Trinetta, a visiting scholar from the University of Milan, Italy also confirmed the feasibility of using active pullulan films to deliver a bacteriocin directly to a food surface.
Sakacin A is a bacteriocin produced by a strain of Lactobacillus. “It’s a naturally occurring antimicrobial produced by organisms associated with fresh meats,” said Cutter, the lead investigator. The compounds are created during fermentation processes, and when applied to meat, they restrain the growth of Listeria monocytogenes.
“Controlled release of such agents from packaging films could inhibit the growth of target microorganisms over time. We think edible films enhanced with these bacteriocins could be placed between slices of pre-sliced deli meats to give the product extended protection against pathogens.”
Pullulan film is a biopolymer, polysaccharide film produced by the fungal organism Aureobasidium pullulans. It is a colorless, tasteless film that is resistant to oil and is largely impermeable to oxygen.
“Pullulan films require less antimicrobial, demonstrate longer antimicrobial activity and allow for controlled migration of the microbial molecule from film to the food matrix, as compared with the direct addition of sakacin A to ready-to-eat meat products,” said Cutter.
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