Development, Analysis, and Application of Novel Anti-Oxidant Food Packaging Films from Date Seeds

Principal Investigator
Vikas Mittal
Department
Chemical Engineering
Focus Area
Water & Environment
Development, Analysis, and Application of Novel Anti-Oxidant Food Packaging Films from Date Seeds

The date palm (phoenix dactylifera) is the major fruit tree in the United Arab Emirates, especially in the southern and eastern parts of the nation. Date fruits are marketed worldwide as a high-value fruit crop. However, date seeds of these fruits are discarded as waste and have not generally received much attention due to lack of popularity and commercial application.

The proposed work aims at the development of novel anti-oxidant films from date seeds that could be used as food wrap for processed and packaged food items such as vegetables, meat, and other “ready-to-eat” food items. The films will be developed from the date seed mucilage using glycerol or gelatin (biomaterials) as the plasticizer. The obtained films would be assessed for their preservative properties such as density, water vapor permeability, color, oxygen permeability, total phenolic content, and anti-oxidant activity. The mechanical and thermal characteristics of the synthesized films would also be studied in detail. The influence of the plasticizer concentration on the resulting films would be analyzed critically to identify its optimum value for the enhanced preservative properties for the resulting films. The presence of large quantities of fiber and substantial amount of tannins, resistant starch, anabolic agents, as well as selenium in date seeds assures that the bio-derived anti-oxidant films of the date seeds would also be edible, enhancing the nutritive value of the preserved food. Also, benchmarking the performance of synthesized anti-oxidant films with the commercial and other lab ready films for food packaging would be carried out. Thus, the anti-oxidant films derived from the date seeds would be a promising and potential substitute for the commercial food wraps/papers.

Development, Analysis, and Application of Novel Anti-Oxidant Food Packaging Films from Date Seeds