Food Chemistry 357 (2021) 129743

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Food Chemistry
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem

Antibacterial activity, optical, and functional properties of corn

starch-based films impregnated with bamboo leaf volatile oil
Bin Wang a, b, Shouxin Yan a, b, Wei Gao a, b, Xuemin Kang a, b, Bin Yu a, b, Pengfei Liu a, b, Li Guo a, b,
Bo Cui a, b, *, A.M. Abd El-Aty a, c, d, *
a
State Key Laboratory of Biobased Material and Green Papermaking, Qilu University of Technology, Shandong Academy of Sciences, Jinan 250353, China
b
School of Food Science and Engineering, Qilu University of Technology, Shandong Academy of Sciences, Jinan, Shandong 250353, China
c
Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza 12211, Egypt
d
Department of Medical Pharmacology, Medical Faculty, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In this study, the optical, morphological, antibacterial, and physical properties of corn starch-based films pre­
Corn starch-based films pared by a solution casting method were investigated after adding various levels of bamboo leaf volatile oil
Physico-chemical properties (BVO, 0.5, 1, and 2%). Further, the roughness was measured by atomic force microscopy and the antibacterial
Essential oil
activities were tested by agar diffusion method. We found that the thickness (TC) and elongation at break (EAB)
Solution casting method
Antibacterial effect
of the corn starch-based films increased significantly (Duncan’s range test, P < 0.05) with the addition of BVO
Packaging biomaterial (TC from 0.121 to 0.207 mm; EAB from 2.48 to 10.40%). However, with the addition of BVO, the moisture
content (MC) and water-solubility decreased (MC: from 13.12 to 11.41%; water solubility: from 30.58 to
26.95%), and the water vapor permeability (WVP) and tensile strength (TS) decreased significantly (WVP: from
3.91 to 3.05 g m m− 2 s− 1 Pa− 1; TS: from 20.64 to 10.68 MPa, Duncan’s range test, P < 0.05). Furthermore,
supplementation of BVO to corn starch-based films increased the surface roughness and the antibacterial effects.
The addition of BVO also increases the opacity of the films, which is helpful to protect food from ultraviolet
damage. In sum, this study provides a theoretical basis for using corn starch-based films as alternative packing
biomaterial.

1. Introduction to the environment. Starch can be used to prepare biodegradable ma­

With the improvement of living standards, plastics have entered
various industries of human life. Among them, the packaging industry is
one of the most important plastic application industries; which accounts
for nearly 40% of the global plastic output (Żołek-Tryznowska & Holica,
2020). Because of their beneficial packaging performance and conve­
nience, plastic films have become an indispensable and excellent ma­
terial in food packaging, but global environmental pollution is becoming
increasingly serious because of the nondegradability and disposability of
plastic packaging, which has seriously affected the life and work of
human beings (Nelms, Galloway, Godley, Jarvis, & Lindeque, 2018).
The uncontrolled use of plastic packaging materials and non­
standardized management may eventually cause our planet to become a
“plastic Earth”.
Starch is a renewable resource with abundant sources and is friendly
terials to reduce environmental pollution (Kim, Choi, Kim, & Lim, 2015;
Sapper, Talens, & Chiralt, 2019). Starch granules consist almost entirely
of two major polysaccharides, namely amylose and amylopectin. Both
consist of chains of α-(1,4)-linked D-glucose residues, which are inter­
connected through α-(1,6)-glucosidic linkages, thus forming branches in
the polymers. Amylopectin (AP) has a high molecular weight of 107–109
Da, a degree of polymerization of 7200, and a high branched structure
(300–400 glucose units). Amylose and amylopectin have unique prop­
erties and can combine with a variety of hydrophobic components to
form complexes (Gelders, Vanderstukken, Goesaert, & Delcour, 2004).
Corn starch is a low-cost biodegradable material; however, the starch-
based films have a series of shortcomings, such as poor hydrophilicity
and low extensibility. The performance of the starch-based films can be
improved by adding plasticizers or other substances to meet the re­
quirements of packaging materials (Jha, 2020). In addition, starch-

* Corresponding authors at: State Key Laboratory of Biobased Material and Green Papermaking, Qilu University of Technology, Shandong Academy of Sciences,
Jinan 250353, China.
E-mail addresses: cuiborr%20paper@163.com (B. Cui), abdelaty44@hotmail.com (A.M. Abd El-Aty).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129743
Received 31 January 2021; Received in revised form 29 March 2021; Accepted 1 April 2021
Available online 6 April 2021
0308-8146/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
B. Wang et al.
based films are also excellent carriers, and a variety of antimicrobial and
antioxidant substances can be added to achieve antimicrobial and
antioxidant effects (Wang et al., 2021). As a type of packaging material,
starch-based films can slowly release antimicrobial and antioxidant
substances, which can prolong the storage time and storage quality of
food (Wang et al., 2021).
Because chemical synthetic substances harm the body, natural active
substances have received increasing attention. Essential oils themselves
have a certain pharmacological activity and the advantage of low
toxicity (Atarés & Chiralt, 2016). Bamboo leaf volatile oil (BVO) has
been widely used in non-pharmaceutical applications, such as flavoring
in food (Jalali-Heravi, Zekavat, & Sereshti, 2006). Results have shown
that BVO has antioxidant, antibacterial, and antiparasitic activities
(Jalali-Heravi et al., 2006). Many studies have shown that BVO has a
certain antibacterial activity, so adding BVO to corn starch-based films
might have a crucial role to prolong the storage life and improve the
storage quality (Boukhatem, Kameli, & Saidi, 2013; Graça, Ferreira, &
Santos, 2016; Schelz, Molnar, & Hohmann, 2006). Moreover, the addi­
tion of BVO to corn starch-based films would also produce a sustained
release effect to achieve a long-term antibacterial effect (Wang et al.,
2021). However, the effect of BVO on the functional properties and
antibacterial activity of corn starch-based films is not fully elucidated.
Hence, the main theme of this study was (1) to prepare an active anti­
bacterial film with corn starch and BVO as the main raw materials, (2) to
characterize the physicochemical and microscopic properties of corn
starch-based films impregnated with BVO, and (3) to assess the anti­
bacterial activity of films supplemented with BVO.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials, chemicals, and reagents
Corn starch was procured from Zhucheng Xingmao Co., Ltd (Zhu­
cheng, Shandong, China). Glycerin and Tween 80 were acquired from
Beijing Solebo Company (Beijing, China). Bamboo leaf volatile oil
(BVO), Mueller-Hinton agar (MHA) and broth (MHB) were secured from
Tianjin Kaitong Co., Ltd Company. Freeze-dried strains of Staphylococcus
aureus (ATCC6538), Listeria monocytogenes (ATCC19115), and Escher­
ichia coli (ATCC25923) were supplied by the School of Food Science and
Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Jinan, Shandong). All
bacteria were cultured in 30 ℃ MHB for 24 h for further use.
2.2. Preparation of films
The solution casting method was used herein to prepare the corn
starch-based films as guided by others (Aminzare, Amiri, Abbasi, Has­
sanzadazar, & Hashemi, 2017; Atarés & Chiralt, 2016; Atarés, De Jesús,
Talens, & Chiralt, 2010; Jouki, Mortazavi, Yazdi, & Koocheki, 2014; Liu
et al., 2021). First, 8 g corn starch was accurately weighed, 80 mL
deionized water was poured into a conical bottle containing the starch
sample, and then the bottle was placed on a magnetic hotplate stirrer.
The temperature and rotational speed were set at 90 ◦ C and 800 rpm,
respectively. Under this condition, the sample was heated and stirred for
30 min. Then, the conical bottle was removed, and 25% glycerol (starch
dry weight basis) and 1% (v/v) Tween 80 were added. Finally, BVO was
added (0, 0.5, 1, and 2%, v/v, (Wang et al., 2021) (when the BVO
exceeded 2%, the starch-based films were separated), and then the
bottle was placed on a magnetic stirrer with a temperature of 90 ◦ C and a
rotational speed of 800 rpm, and the mixture was stirred again for 10
min. After stirring, the corn film-forming solution was poured into a
special polytetrafluoroethylene mold (PTFE, Shanghai Yuanye Co., Ltd,
Shanghai, China, 15 cm × 20 cm), and the PTFE mold was dried in an
oven at 40 ◦ C for 7 h. After drying, the corn starch-based films were
peeled off from the PTFE mold and balanced at 20 ◦ C and 54% relative
humidity (RH) for 48 h pending use.
2
Food Chemistry 357 (2021) 129743
2.3. Thickness measurement
Herein, a spiral micrometer (Mitutoyo No. 293-240-30, Tokyo,
Japan) was used. A spiral micrometer was employed to measure the
average thickness of corn starch-based films. Six points were randomly
selected on each film and then the average value was calculated.
2.4. Moisture content (MC)
The corn starch-based films were cut into squares (2 cm × 2 cm) and
the sample M1 was weighed. Then, the corn starch-based films were
dried in an oven at 110 ◦ C for 16 h to obtain a constant weight M2. The
MC was calculated according to the following formula (Wang et al.,
2021):
M1 − M2
MC = × 100%
M1
where M1 is the raw corn starch-based films weight, M2 represents the
corn starch-based film weight after drying; MC is the corn starch-based
films moisture content.
2.5. Solubility in water
The corn starch-based films sample were cut into squares (2 cm × 2
cm) and then sample M3 was accurately weighed using an electronic
balance (Beijing Solebo Company, Beijing, China). The sample was put
into a conical bottle to which 150 mL distilled water was added, and the
sample was then stirred in a constant temperature shaker at 180 rpm and
25 ◦ C for 6 h. After stirring, the sample was removed from the conical
bottle and dried in an oven at 110 ◦ C for 7 h. The sample was accurately
weighed using an electronic balance (Beijing Solebo Company, Beijing,
China). The solubility of the corn starch-based films was calculated as
following (Wang et al., 2021):
M3 − M4
S = × 100%
M3
where M3 is raw corn-based starch films weight, M4 represents corn
starch-based films weight after drying, S: corn-strach based films solu­
bility in water.
2.6. Water vapor permeability (WVP)
The WVP was tested using a W3/030 Water Vapor Transmission Rate
Tester (Lab think Instruments Co., Ltd., Jinan, China). First, the corn
starch-based film was cut into a circle with an area of 33 cm2. Then, after
being stored at 38 ◦ C and 90% RH for 12 h, the sample was evaluated
every 30 min with the instrument, and then the average WVP of the corn
starch-based films was calculated from three repeated sample.
2.7. Film color measurement
A Hunter Lab colorimeter (MiniScan XE Plus 45/0-L, USA) was used
to measure the L, a, and b values of the corn starch-based films. The test
conditions of this experiment used a D65 light source with an opening of
14 mm and a standard observation degree of 10◦ . The colorimeter was
calibrated using a standard whiteboard (L0* = 55.93, a0* = 7.21, b0* =
2.20). At least three points were taken from each sample to measure the
color parameters of the corn starch-based films. The color indicators
were calculated as following:
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
ΔE = (L0 * − L)2 + (a0 * − a)2 + (b0 * − b)2
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
C= a2 + b2
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
h = tan b/a
B. Wang et al.
Table 1
Functional properties of the corn starch-based films supplemented with BVO.
Film type Thickness (mm) Moisture content (MC) (%)
d a
Control 0.121 ± 0.0075 13.12 ±
BVO (0.5%) 0.161 ± 0.0047c 13.21 ±
BVO (1%) 0.189 ± 0.0019b 11.88 ±
BVO (2%) 0.207 ± 0.0018a 11.41 ±
Data are presented as the X ± SD, different superscript letters in the same column denote significant differences (Duncan’s range test, P < 0.05).
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
WI = 100 − (100 − L)2 + a2 + b2
where L0*, a0* and b* are the color parameters of a white standard (L0*
= 55.93, a0* = 7.21, b0* = 2.20) used as the corn starch-based film
background.
2.8. Mechanical properties
The corn starch-based films were balanced at 23 ◦ C and 53% RH for
48 h, and then the film samples were cut into rectangular strips (1 cm ×
10 cm). Next, the sample was placed into a tensile testing machine
(Param Xlw Co., Ltd, Jinan, China). The speed of the crosshead was 100
mm/min. After the completion of the experiment, the tensile strength
(TS, MPa) and elongation at break (EAB, %) were read from the auto­
matic tensile testing machine. The measurements of each group of
samples were repeated at least 5 times.
2.9. The antibacterial activity of the corn starch-based films
Herein, a disk diffusion assay was used to determine the antibacterial
activity of the corn starch-based films (do Evangelho et al., 2019). First,
the film samples were cut into a disk with a diameter of 6 mm under
aseptic conditions. The sample was then placed on a petri dish, which
was pre-inoculated with 100 μL of broth culture containing approxi­
mately 108 CFU/mL (0.5 McFarland) test bacteria. On each plate, there
was one disc allocated to the pure BVO-free films (0%) and three discs
corresponding to each corn starch-based film formulated with BVO (0.5,
1, and 2%). Then, the plate was incubated at 37 ◦ C for 24 h. Afterward,
the growth area was measured with a caliper (Mitutoyo No. 192-30,
Tokyo, Japan) and was then subtracted from the area of the corn
starch-based film disk. The difference in this area defined as the “inhi­
bition zone” (Shojaee-Aliabadi et al., 2013). The results were compared
with chloramphenicol, as the positive control (Seydim & Sarikus, 2006).
2.10. Atomic force microscopy (AFM)
The setting conditions of AFM (Multimode 8) were as follows: the
scanning dimensions were 5 and 10 μm2, the vertical range was 6 μm,
and tap mode was used (Atarés et al., 2010). After the test was
completed, two parameters were calculated: the average roughness (Ra:
the average value of the absolute deviation between the average surface
height) and the root mean square roughness (RQ: obtained from the root
mean square deviation of the average data plane height deviation)
(Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, & Oromiehie, 2011).
2.11. Statistical analyses
SPSS (version 20.0, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Inc.,
Chicago, USA) was used to analyze the experimental data, and the
analysis of variance of factorial complete random design was used. The
differences in various properties of corn starch-based films were
compared using Duncan’s range test (P < 0.05).
Food Chemistry 357 (2021) 129743
2 − 1
Solubility in water (%) Water vapor permeability (WVP) (g m m− s Pa− 1)
a a
0.04 30.58 ± 1.35 3.91 ± 0.05
0.21a 28.66 ± 1.85b 3.56 ± 0.04ab
0.13b 27.08 ± 0.96c 3.19 ± 0.12bc
0.35b 26.95 ± 1.06c 3.05 ± 0.08c
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Thickness
As shown in Table 1, the thickness of the corn starch-based films was
between 0.121 ± 0.0075 and 0.207 ± 0.0018 mm. The thickness of the
corn starch-based films increased with increasing BVO level, and there
was a significant difference among groups. This result showed that
incorporation of BVO had a significant effect on the increase in corn
starch-based films thickness (Duncan’s range test, P < 0.05). In this
context, Shojaee-Aliabadi et al. (2013) concluded that with increasing
essential oil concentration, the starch-based film thickness increased
significantly with the addition of Satureja hortensis essential oil. Further,
Aminzare, Hashemi, Hassanzadazar, Amiri, and Abbasi (2017) declared
that the thickness of starch-based film increases with the increase of
essential oil concentration.
3.2. Moisture content
It can be stipulated from Table 1 that with increasing BVO level, the
moisture content of the corn starch-based film samples decreased
gradually, from 13.12 ± 0.04 to 11.41 ± 0.35%; the finding which in­
dicates that the addition of BVO can reduce the moisture content of corn
starch-based films. This finding may be attributed to the interplay be­
tween BVO and hydroxyl groups in corn starch, resulting in the weak­
ening of water molecules and hydroxyl groups in corn starch. It was
reported that the addition of volatile oil can reduce the moisture content
of the corn starch-based films (Ghasemlou et al., 2013). Additionally,
Wang et al. (2021) implied that the moisture content of starch-based
film decreases gradually with the increase of essential oil concentration.
3.3. Water vapor permeability (WVP)
WVP is an important index of packaging materials. Food packaging
materials can reduce the exchange of substances between food and the
outside environment to improve food quality and prolong the shelf life
of food. Table 1 shows that with increasing BVO level, the WVP of the
corn starch-based film samples decreased from 3.91 ± 0.05 to 3.05 ±
0.08 g m m− 2 s− 1 Pa− 1, and there was a significant difference between
each group compared with pure starch-based films (Duncan’s range test,
P < 0.05). The results showed that supplementation of BVO can
significantly reduce the WVP of the corn starch-based films. It was stated
that the inclusion of hydrophobic substances can reduce the WVP of
starch-based films (do Evangelho et al., 2019). In this context, Shojaee-
Aliabadi et al. (2013) concluded that the addition of hydrophobic vol­
atile oil to starch-based films can increase the zigzag factor, which
makes the path of water through the starch films zigzag, resulting in a
decrease in the WVP of the films. Additionally, Aminzare et al. (2017)
and de Souza, Dos Santos, Da Silva Torin, and Dos Santos Rosa (2020)
found that the WVP of starch-based films decreases with increasing
essential oil concentration.
3.4. Solubility in water
Solubility is one of the important indicators of food packaging ma­
terials, and different foods need to choose packaging materials with
3
B. Wang et al.
Fig. 1. Tensile strength and elongation at break of corn starch-based films
incorporated with bamboo leaf volatile oil (BVO).
different solubilities. When packaging food with high moisture content,
the packaging material is required to have low water solubility. Table 1
shows the solubility of pure corn starch-based film samples. With
increasing BVO level, the water solubility of corn starch-based film
samples decreased, and there was a significant difference among groups
(Duncan’s range test, P < 0.05). The results show that the solubility of
Fig. 2. AFM images of corn starch-based films (5 and 10 μm): (a) Control, (b) 0.5% BVO, (c) 1% BVO, and (d) 2% BVO.
4
Food Chemistry 357 (2021) 129743
starch-based films is related to the additives present. If the additive is
hydrophobic, the solubility of starch-based film will decrease. In
contrast, the addition of hydrophilic substances will increase the solu­
bility of starch-based films (Ghasemlou et al., 2013). The results of this
study reached to similar conclusions; adding BVO reduces the solubility
of corn starch-based film samples, and with increasing BVO level, the
solubility of corn starch-based films also decreases.
3.5. Mechanical properties
Whether corn starch-based films can be used as packaging materials
mainly refers to two indexes: tensile strength (TS) and elongation at
break (EAB). Fig. 1 shows the effects of BVO on the TS and EAB of corn
starch-based film samples. With increasing BVO level, the TS of corn
starch-based films decreased and the EAB increased. Compared with the
control group, the TS of the corn starch-based films with BVO was lower
and the EAB was higher than that of pure corn starch-based films,
indicating that incorporation of BVO could reduce the TS and increase
the EAB of corn starch-based films. The results show that the interaction
between polar polymers is stronger than that between nonpolar poly­
mers (lipid molecules) and between polar polymers and nonpolar lipid
molecules. Therefore, the addition of volatile oil increased the EAB and
decreased the TS of corn starch-based films (Yang & Paulson, 2000). It
was found that the addition of lipids can lead to the formation of a
discontinuous matrix of starch films, which leads to an increase in EAB
and a decrease in TS (Li, Ye, Lei, & Zhao, 2018). Further, Tongnuanchan,
Benjakul, Prodpran, and Nilsuwan (2015) concluded that when essential
oil is added to starch-based films, the strong interplay between
B. Wang et al. Food Chemistry 357 (2021) 129743

Fig. 2. (continued).

films. Fabra, Hambleton, Talens, Debeaufort, and Chiralt (2011) and

Table 2
Wang et al. (2021) used AFM to observe the morphological changes and
AFM roughness parameters of the corn starch-based films.
roughness of starch-based films and calculated the average roughness Rq
Scanning range 0% BVO 0.5% BVO 1% BVO 2% BVO and root mean square roughness Ra of corn starch-based films. Fig. 2
2
5 μm Rq 61.4 69.2 76.2 84.1 shows the corn starch-based film surfaces formulated with different
5 μm2 Ra 49.5 58.0 62.5 66.1 levels of BVO. Table 2 lists the surface roughness values of corn starch-
10 μm2 Rq 103.6 142.8 165.3 174.1
based film samples. With the continuous increase in BVO level, the
10 μm2 Ra 112.4 128.3 130.2 139.7
surface roughness of corn starch-based films continued to increase.
When the scanning range was 5 μm2, and the roughness of the corn
polysaccharides in the starch films is replaced by the weak interplay starch-based films was Rq: 61.4–84.1 and Ra: 49.5–66.1. When the
between polysaccharides and essential oil, thus forming a more flexible scanning range was 10 μm2, the roughness of the corn starch-based films
structure in the starch-based films and resulting in an increase in EAB was Rq: 103.6–174.1 and Ra: 112.4–139.7. This finding denotes that the
and a decrease in TS. addition of BVO increases the roughness of corn starch-based films.
When BVO is added to the starch films, it will increase the irregularity of
3.6. Surface morphology the starch films, resulting in an increase in the roughness of the starch
films (Shojaee-Aliabadi et al., 2013). In this context, Fabra et al. (2011)
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an extremely high resolution tool, found that essential oils would accumulate in corn starch-based films
which can used to observe the surface roughness of corn starch-based and cause surface irregularities after drying.

Table 3
Color parameters (L*, a*, b*, WI) and total color difference (ΔE) of corn starch-based films.
Film type L* a* b* WI C h ΔE

Control 57.86 ± 0.12a 6.13 ± 0.49ab 3.35 ± 0.07b 57.29 ± 0.17b 7.00 ± 0.06b 0.013 ± 0.017a 1.34 ± 0.08c
BVO (0.5%) 56.31 ± 0.11b 6.80 ± 0.38a 3.35 ± 0.33b 56.64 ± 0.37c 7.58 ± 0.08a 0.012 ± 0.011a 2.24 ± 0.32b
BVO (1%) 54.73 ± 0.16c 5.16 ± 0.35bc 3.86 ± 0.27ab 57.24 ± 0.43b 6.44 ± 0.05c 0.015 ± 0.029a 2.37 ± 0.12b
BVO (2%) 52.72 ± 0.18d 4.47 ± 0.22c 4.47 ± 0.24a 58.24 ± 0.14a 6.32 ± 0.05c 0.017 ± 0.020a 3.33 ± 0.22a

Data are shown as the X ± SD, different superscript letters in the same column indicate significant differences (Duncan’s range test, P < 0.05).

5
B. Wang et al.
Table 4
Antibacterial activities of the corn starch-based films against Gram negative and
positive bacteria.
Film type Inhibition zone (mm2)
E. coli S. aureus L. monocytogenes
Control 0e 0e 0e
BVO (0.5%) 61.06 ± 4.31d 72.12 ± 6.79d 75.26 ± 3.21d
BVO (1%) 72.54 ± 3.35c 91.83 ± 4.40c 96.32 ± 4.29c
BVO (2%) 103.51 ± 6.69b 127.86 ± 3.13b 133.26 ± 4.08b
Chloramphenicol 1236.16 ± 11.61a 763.44 ± 10.47a 963.91 ± 11.12a
Data are shown as the X ± SD, different superscript letters in the same column
indicate significant differences (Duncan’s range test, P < 0.05).
3.7. Optical properties
Table 3 shows that the brightness (L*) of the corn starch-based films
decreased with increasing BVO level, and there was a significant dif­
ference among groups (Duncan’s range test, P < 0.05), indicating that
the addition of BVO significantly reduced the brightness of the corn
starch-based film samples. The corn starch-based film redness (a*)
increased with increasing BVO level, indicating that the redness (a*) of
corn starch-based films incorporated with BVO decreased gradually. In
this occasion, Wang et al. (2021) reached a similar conclusion in their
study, showing that the light refractive intensity of corn starch-based
films increased due to the diffusion of the volatile oil, which led to a
significant decrease in the brightness (L*) of the corn starch-based films
(Duncan’s range test, P < 0.05). Moreover, Atarés and Chiralt (2016)
concluded that the addition of essential oil promotes a change in the
refractive index of the polymer surface, which leads to a change in the
color of the starch films. With increasing BVO level, the total color dif­
ference ΔE of the corn starch-based films increased significantly (Dun­
can’s range test, P < 0.05). In this way, Fabra, Talens, and Chiralt (2010)
stated that the transparency of starch films was lower than that of pure
starch-based films when non-dispersible and incompatible substances
were added to FFD.
3.8. Microbiological activity
Adding BVO to corn starch-based film can play a role in slow release,
which can extend the shelf life of food. As shown in Table 4, with
increasing BVO level, the antibacterial performance of the corn starch-
based films gradually improved. Compared with pure corn starch-
based films, the addition of BVO significantly increased the antibacte­
rial performance of corn starch-based films (Duncan’s range test, P <
0.05). We believe that the corn starch-based films with BVO slowly
release the volatile oils when they come into contact with the medium,
causing BVO to come into contact with E. coli, L. monocytogenes, and
S. aureus, thereby producing antibacterial effects and inhibiting bacte­
rial growth (Jin, Yuan, & Zhang, 2011; Wang et al., 2021).
As shown in Table 4, we found that the effect of BVO on Gram pos­
itive bacteria (S. aureus and L. monocytogenes) was greater than that on
Gram negative bacteria (such as E. coli). Each group of the corn starch-
based films with the same BVO level showed this phenomenon. The
reason for this effect may be that essential oils can act on cell mem­
branes, causing membrane damage while destroying their integrity and
depleting cell contents. Some studies have shown that carvacrol and
thymol can significantly damage the cell membranes of certain bacteria
(Dashipour et al., 2015). The reason why Gram negative are more
resistant than Gram positive bacteria is because the cell membranes of
Gram-negative bacteria are not permeable to lipophilic compounds
(Burt, 2004; Ozturk & Ercisli, 2006).
4. Conclusions
Herein, the effects of different levels of BVO (0.5, 1, and 2%) on the
6
Food Chemistry 357 (2021) 129743
optical, morphological, antibacterial, and functional properties of corn
starch-based films produced by solution casting method were investi­
gated. The addition of BVO significantly addition of BVO to corn starch-
based films increases the opacity and reduces the gloss, which can be
used to pack foods that need to be protected from light. At the same time,
the addition of BVO reduces the water vapor permeability of the corn
starch-based film and avoids water exchange between food and the
outside environment, thus prolonging the food’s shelf life. Moreover, the
addition of BVO significantly improved the antibacterial performance of
corn starch-based films. We found that the corn starch-based films with
BVO had good bactericidal effects on both Gram positive and negative
bacteria and the effect was greater on Gram positive. The experimental
results showed that the addition of BVO to corn starch-based film has a
good potential to become a packaging material.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Bin Wang: Investigation, Software, Visualization, Writing - original
draft. Shouxin Yan: Supervision, Project administration. Wei Gao:
Supervision, Project administration. Xuemin Kang: Investigation,
Formal analysis. Bin Yu: Investigation, Data curation. Pengfei Liu:
Investigation, Data curation. Li Guo: Formal analysis. Bo Cui: Concep­
tualization, Methodology, Writing - review & editing, Supervision. A.M.
Abd El-Aty: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - review & edit­
ing, Supervision.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial in­
terests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the
work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This project was funded by National Key Research & Development
Program in China (Grant No. 2019YFD1002704); Key Research and
Development Program of Shandong Province (No. 2017YYSP024);
Special Funds for Taishan Scholars Project; Funds for Innovation Team
of Jinan (2018GXRC004); Shandong major projects of independent
innovation (2019JZZY010722); Bohai Sea Granary Science and Tech­
nology Demonstration Project (2019BHLC002); Special Project of In­
ternational Cooperative Research (QLUTGJHZ2018016); and Shandong
Province agricultural application technology major innovation project
(SF1405303301).
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