ABSTRACT
Edible food packaging films are gaining a lot of interest as an effort to reduce packaging waste created by non-degradable conventional plastics. Edible films are those films used for coating or wrapping various foods to extend their shelf life and may be eaten together with the food. Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) is widely used as an edible film; however, it is having moderate strength and high moisture sensitivity leading to relatively high permeability. The addition of cellulose nanocrystals as a reinforcing agent in HPMC is a viable method to improve these properties. Cellulose nanocrystals obtained from food-grade bacterial cellulose fibers were incorporated into HPMC at various concentrations and the resultant nanocomposite films were characterized for its properties. Atomic Force Microscopic (AFM) images confirmed the formation of rod like cellulose nanocrystals. The addition of highly crystalline cellulose nanocrystals also helped to reduce the moisture affinity of HPMC, which is desirable for edible packaging applications. The thermal properties of these nanocomposite edible films were also evaluated. Results of this study demonstrated that bacterial cellulose nanocrystals are capable of fabricating highperformance edible polymer nanocomposite films.
