Functional modification of edible film based on egg white protein and its application in food preservation: A review

Based on the urgent need for environmental protection, traditional petroleum-based packaging materials are gradually being replaced by non-toxic and biodegradable biopolymer packaging materials such as proteins, polysaccharides and lipids. Among them, egg white protein (EWP) has been widely concerned because of its excellent gel film forming properties and high nutritional value. EWP film has the advantages of high mechanical strength, good stability, high transparency, controllable cost, good compatibility with human tissue, etc. However, the common problems such as humidity sensitivity and poor flexibility of protein-based films limit its application. In this paper, the characteristics and film-forming mechanism of EWP were introduced, and the film-forming methods, influencing factors, performance improvement (such as physical modification, chemical modification, enzymatic modification and mixing with other functional ingredients, etc.) as well as its application in food packaging were reviewed. In addition, the existing problems and prospects of EWP based films are discussed, which provides a new idea for improving the properties of EWP films and expanding its application in the future.