Development of Lysozy Incorporated Antimicrobial Zein Films and Evaluation of Their Effectson Quality of Cold Stored Burgers

Abstract

In this study antimicrobial edible food packaging films were obtained by incorporation of hydrophilic partially purified lysozyme into hydrophobic zein films.The antimicrobial enzyme was incorporated into films by homogenization or stirring methods to increase its distribution in the films and to modify the film structure. The soluble and bound lysozyme activities of different zein films, as well as antimicrobial activity of films on different bacteria including Bacillus amyloliqufaciens, Listeria innocua, Eschericia coli, Pseudomanas fluorescens, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus and on cold stored burgers were tested. The lysozyme was combined with disodium EDTA to increase sensitivity of G(-) bacteria to enzymatic action. The films obtained by incorporation of 175 to 700 .g/cm2 lysozyme with stirring or homogenization methods showed good antimicrobial activity on most of the tested bacteria, except S. aureus. In general, due to their higher free soluble lysozyme content, the zein films incorporated with lysozyme by the stirring method gave higher antimicrobial activity on tested bacteria than films obtained by the homogenization method. However, the homogenization method caused better distribution of resulting antimicrobial activity in films than the stirring method. The films incorporated with 700 .g/cm2 lysozyme and 300 .g/cm2 disodium EDTA and prepared by stirring or homogenization method successfully suppressed the total viable counts and total coliform counts of cold stored turkey and beef burgers. The films also effectively reduced the oxidative changes in beef burgers during cold storage, but they showed no beneficial effects on beef color and sensory properties.