Development of active polyvinyl alcohol/β-cyclodextrin composites to scavenge undesirable food components

Active food packaging systems based on the incorporation of agents into polymeric package walls are being designed to purposely release or retain compounds to maintain or even increase food quality. The objective of this work was to develop polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH)/β-cyclodextrin (βCD) composite films that can be applied to reduce undesirable component content such as cholesterol in foods through active retention of the compounds in the package walls during storage. Cyclodextrins were added to PVOH in a proportion of 1:1 and cross-linked with glyoxal under acidic media to reduce its water-soluble character. Three different cross-linking procedures were used: cross-linking of the polymer/polysaccharide mixture in solution and film casting, PVOH. βCD*; cross-linking of the polymer, addition of βCD, and casting of the mixture, PVOH*.CD; and casting of a PVOH film, addition of a βCD/glyoxal solution onto the film, and cross-linking during drying, PVOH.CD*. Characterization studies showed that the PVOH*.CD and PVOH.CD* films provided the best physical characteristics with the lowest release values and the highest barrier properties. As a potential application, materials were tested as potential cholesterol-scavenging films. There was a significant reduction in the cholesterol concentration in milk samples when they were exposed to the materials developed.