| Abstract [eng] |
The food industry is facing a number of important challenges: the threat of pathogens, that can affect the quality and safety of products, and an increasing amount of food waste. Researchers are intensively proposing an inovative ways to solve the following issues: nanostructures offer opportunities to reduce food waste by applying them for the synthesis of nanoparticles, which would be useful for improvement of food quality. Nanoparticles applied in the food industry can play a role as nanostructured food ingredients and as food 'nanosensors'. In the context of food packaging, nanomaterials can already be applied in this area in the form of reinforced, active and smart packaging. This work discusses and analyzes the above mentioned problems of food safety and suggests the practical solutions for the impregation of paper based food packages with metal nanoparticles. Copper and silver nanoparticles were synthesized using food waste materials (aqueous extracts of banana and apple peels) for impregnation of a food paper package. The first stage of the experiment included the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the food waste based extracts. In order to evaluate the compounds capable of reducing metal ions, high performance liquid chromatography analysis of the prepared extracts was carried out. Based on the high performance liquid chromatography results, the extract of apple peels was selected for the synthesis of Cu and Ag nanoparticles and their impregnation into the paper matrix. The colloidal solutions and the nanoparticles impregnated paper were analyzed by ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. The morphological characterization of the nanoparticles impregnated paper was carried out using scanning electron microscopy. The characterization of nanoparticles distribution on the paper matrix was investigated by Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Finally, the antibacterial activity of the nanoparticles modified paper against pathogenic bacteria of Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus was investigated by the conventional agar diffusion method. |
