Antimicrobial edible packaging based on cellulosic ethers, fatty acids, and nisin incorporation to inhibit Listeria innocua and Staphylococcus aureus.

Edible cellulosic films made with hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) have proven to be inadequate moisture barriers. To improve its water vapor barrier properties, different hydrophobic compounds were incorporated into the HPMC matrix. Some fatty acids and derivatives were included into the film-forming solution prior to film formation. Stearic acid was chosen because of its high capacity to reduce significantly the water vapor transmission rate. Antimicrobial activity of edible HPMC film was obtained by the incorporation of nisin into the film-forming solution. Nisin is an antimicrobial peptide effective against gram-positive bacteria. The inhibitory activity of this bacteriocin was tested for inhibition of Listeria innocua and Staphylococcus aureus. The use of stearic acid was observed to reduce the inhibitory activity of active HPMC film against both selected strains. This phenomenon may be explained by electrostatic interactions between the cationic nisin and the anionic stearic acid. Further studies showed that antimicrobial activity of film varied with the nature of the hydrophobic compound incorporated, in decreasing order: film without lipid, methylstearate film, and stearic acid film. This corroborated the idea of electrostatic interactions.