Preliminary Screening of Mineral-Based Active Packaging Films for Banana Postharvest Quality: Origin-Dependent Efficacy and Superiority of Tourmaline-Based Formulations.

Six active packaging films were prepared by melt-compounding Ti/boehmite, Zn/zeolite, and tourmaline into low-density polyethylene via masterbatch (15 wt% loading). Postharvest quality of Ecuador-, Jeju-, and Mexico-origin bananas was evaluated under sealed and perforated conditions using browning index, pulp-to-peel (P/P) ratio, and Δ°Brix. Despite high filler content, films retained adequate mechanical integrity (tensile strength 27.7 MPa; elongation 244%). Under sealed storage, zeolite-blended formulations consistently showed the lowest browning: Tour+ZL recorded 3.48% (Ecuador, day 13) and 2.99% (Jeju, day 15); T/BM+ZL recorded 5.12% and 5.22%, respectively. The single-component T/BM film showed browning comparable to or exceeding the control. Tour+ZL also maintained the lowest terminal P/P ratio for Jeju bananas (28.99%) with no decrease throughout storage, indicating superior peel moisture retention. For Mexico-origin bananas, all films failed to retard browning after day 8 regardless of composition, demonstrating that packaging efficacy is strongly origin-dependent and must be matched to commodity postharvest history rather than applied universally. Perforated packaging extended the monitorable shelf life by 6-8 days but diminished inter-film differences. Tour+ZL was identified as the lead candidate for controlled validation trials, and a cross-validated framework combining browning index with P/P ratio is proposed to detect overripening.