Antimicrobial activity and physico-mechanical properties of curcumin, nanocurcumin and chilli extract incorporated methylcellulose film.

Foods contamination leading to spoilage and growth of pathogenic microorganisms can
happen when exposed to environment during slaughtering, processing, packaging and
shipping. Although traditional food preservation methods such as drying, heating, freezing,
fermentation and salting can extend food shelf-life, it is not consummate especially to inhibit
the growth of pathogenic microorganisms that may endanger consumers' health.
Antimicrobial packaging is a novel development that incorporates antimicrobial agent into
polymer film, packaging materials or edible films and coatings to suppress the activities of
targeted microorganisms. The film or coating technique is considered to be more effective,
although more complicated to apply. New antimicrobial packaging materials are continually
being developed. Many of them exploit natural agents to control common food-borne
microorganisms. This report shows the performance of a biodegradable film using curcumin
nanoparticle and chilli extract as a primary antimicrobial agent and methylcellulose as the
polymer matrix. The main objective of this research is to fabricate a biodegradable
antimicrobial film using curcumin, curcumin nanoparticle and chilli extract. The films were
prepared by wet casting of the aqueous solution containing methylcellulose as the main
polymer, ethanol 99% v/v as solvent, and glycerol as plasticizer. Films prepared with various
concentration of curcumin (0.3%, 0.5%), curcumin nanoparticle (0.2%, 0.3%, 0.5% w/w) and
chilli extract in combination with nanocurcumin (0.3% and 0.5% each). It was observed that
curcumin nanoparticle films and chilli extract with nanocurcumin films showed increase in
mechanical properties however the mechanical properties of chilli extract with nanocurcumin
films were less as compared to that of nanocurcumin. Compared to curcumin films, the
inhibition of microbial strain by curcumin nanoparticle films were increased in selected strain
of E.coli, S. aureus & B.cereus. But the inhibition of microbial strain by chilli extract with
nanocurcumin films were even more increased in selected strain as compared to
nanocurcumin films. Films prepared with curcumin nanoparticle showed inhibition while
films with curcumin showed no inhibition and films prepared with chilli extract and
nanocurcumin showed synergistic effect which proves that chilli extract with curcumin
nanoparticle films and nanocurcumin films shows more antimicrobial property than films
prepared with curcumin. Thus it is evident from the investigation that films prepared with
curcumin nanoparticle proved good for food packaging application. But chilli extract with
nanocurcumin films are preferred over nanocurcumin film as they showed synergistic effect.