A new natural drying method for food packaging and preservation using biopolymer-based dehydration film

A new method for the drying of beef and chicken meats at low temperatures (4 °C) was developed by using a composite film based on sodium carboxymethyl cellulose-gum Arabic (SG) with anthocyanins from Cinnamomum camphora fruit peel (ANC.P, 0, 1, 1.5 and 2%). After incorporation of ANC.P into SG, the physicochemical properties, morphological characteristics, melting, molecular, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of the resulting dehydration films were improved. Film-dried beef and chicken slices showed higher values of dehydration ratio on day 6 (54.58% and 72.06%, respectively) compared with the control samples without film (4.55% and 7.04%, respectively). Results showed that SG-ANC.P film-dried meats exhibited more stable pH and color, higher rehydration rate, better sensory quality and microbial growth inhibition compared with SG film-dried samples and control samples, in which control samples showed the highest total viable count values (6.02 and 5.16 log CFU/mL for beef and chicken, respectively) during storage.