Biodegradable high oxygen barrier membrane for chilled meat packaging

"Chilled" meat is more nutritional, healthy and hygienic than the meat kept at ambient temperature. "Poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) and poly(vinly alcohol) (PVA) were used to prepare biodegradable three-layer PPC/PVA/PPC films with high barrier and tensile properties. The potential benefits of the developed films were also evaluated on the shelf life of chilled meat products. Compared to PPC film, using 20 wt % PVA as an intermediate layer in PPC/PVA/PPC film remarkably enhanced oxygen barrier performance at 0 and 50 RH % by about 500 times, tensile strength by about 8 times, and Young's modulus by nine times, but no beneficial effect on water vapor barrier performance has been observed. A new "sandwich" type of completely biodegradable material with high barrier was obtained. The application of PPC/PVA20/PPC film as the packaging material of chilled meat was effectively kept the total viable count (TVC) and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) to acceptable levels in chilled meats until 19th day of storage at 4 degrees C, however, the spoilage occurred within 11th and 14th days of refrigerated storage in term of TVC and TVB-N, respectively, in the chilled meats packed with only PPC. Herein, we report that PPC/PVA/PPC three-layer film can be a promising well-defined biodegradable material with excellent potential in chilled meat packaging. (C) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.