Pullulan nanocomposites: Effect of nanoparticles and essential oil reinforcement on its performance and food packaging applications

Abstract

The fungus Aureobasidium pullulan (Ascomycota: Dothideales), which resembles black yeast, produces the biopolymer or extracellular polysaccharide called pullulan. Given its unique ability in developing flexible, colorless, tasteless, odorless, and heat-sealable films with great oxygen barrier properties, pullulan has found a seat in food packaging applications. However, despite its outstanding features, pullulan in its pure form sufferers from several drawbacks including high hydrophilicity, weak mechanical attributes, and limited antioxidant capacity. Considering the large surface area per unit volume, nanoparticles have been introduced as outstanding components, that their incorporation into the pullulan-based composites could result in the formation of natural nanocomposites with improved mechanical and oxygen/water vapor barrier features. Such structures simultaneously offer the inherent characteristics of pullulan combined with the unique features of nanoparticles. On the other hand, the potent antioxidant/antimicrobial attributes of natural essential oils have made them potent candidates for developing novel packaging material providing longer shelf life to the foods. Therefore, in this study, various features of pullulan-based nanocomposites reinforced with nanoparticles and essential oils plus their utilization for food packaging applications were overviewed. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.