Application of Starch Foams Containing Plant Essential Oils to Prevent Mold Growth and Improve Shelf Life of Packaged Bread

Abstract

In the recent years, considerable attention has been allocated in the area of using natural preservatives infoods, especially vegetable oils. Starch foams prepared from high amylose starch are useful for encapsulation ofsubstances such as chemicals, liquids or solids, including flavor compounds, pharmaceuticals and essential oils. Thefoams have the ability to trap the active material and subsequently release the activity. Cinnamon oil is absorbed to foamstarch microparticles and acts as an antimicrobial agent. This study was designed and implemented to evaluate the use ofstarch foam containing vegetable oil to prevent mold growth and improve packaged bread shelf life. For this purpose,first cinnamon essential oil was extracted with water by distillation method then, groups of bread were preparedwithin polypropylene plastic bags. Various amounts of cinnamon essential oil ( , , and ppm) with g ofstarch foam powder inside sterilized filter paper were added to these packages.The obtained results of multi-way andintergroup repeated tests indicated that there was a significant difference (P < ) between the control groups andvarious groups containing cinnamon essential oil in terms of microbial load. In the groups containing essential oils, lessincrease was showed in microbial load and with increasing concentrations of cinnamon essential oil, mold and yeastgrowth rate decreased. It concluded that by using starch foam containing cinnamon essential oil in bulky bread packingat ambient temperature ( C), the spoilage process of bulky bread can be postponed to days, and it can be used as anappropriate natural and antifungal preservative in packaging of bread.