Development of active edible films made from banana starch and curcumin-loaded nanoemulsions

Active packaging that can be used to release active molecules food products during storage has been a central part in food science research over the last decades. This paper presents the development of an active film made from banana starch incorporated with curcumin-loaded orange oil nanoemulsion. Results showed that inclusion of the curcumin-loaded nanoemulsions reduced water vapor permeability, given the hydrophobic nature of curcumin. Likewise, elongation at break was also increased due to the plasticizing effect of the nanoemulsion. Finally, this paper reports the release profiles of curcumin from the active film into different food simulants. Results showed that curcumin release is diffusion driven in both aqueous and non-aqueous food simulants, however it seems that while the complete nanoemulsion droplets are released in the aqueous simulant, in non-aqueous simulant only curcumin molecules are released.