Active food packages for cake conservation: Antifungal potential of bean starch biodegradable films with orange peel essential oil.

This study aimed to apply antifungal films as biodegradable active packages for cake conservation. Native or octenyl succinic anhydride (OSA)-modified carioca bean starches (4 %, w/v) were used to produce films incorporated with orange peel essential oil (5 % and 10 %, v/w). d-limonene was determined as the major compound (94.25 %) in orange peel essential oil. Filmogenic solutions exhibited greater stability due to OSA modification. The films presented a continuous morphology, high luminosity (97.0 %), and low opacity (8.6 %), moisture content of 24.2 %, solubility in water of 38.0 %, and a water vapor permeability of 4.97 g.mm/m2.day.KPa. They remained intact after 24 h of immersion in water. The mechanical properties included a tensile strength (5.44 MPa) and an elongation at break (52.0 %). The antifungal activity of the essential oil and the films against Penicillium crustosum and Aspergillus flavus was high, with higher inhibition of A. flavus. Films produced from OSA-modified starch exhibited improved morphological properties, showing increased homogeneity over native starch films. The bean starch films with 10 % orange peel essential oil exhibited an enhanced antifungal effect. They were used for the application in cake conservation, displaying high inhibition of fungi with the potential for the formation of biodegradable active food packaging.