Development and characterization of unripe banana starch films incorporated with solid lipid microparticles containing ascorbic acid

• Starch films from plantain bananas with high antioxidant activity were obtained.
• Ascorbic acid was microencapsulated in a lipid matrix before addition to the film.
• The solid lipid microparticles (SLM) were produced by spray chilling.
• The SLM protected the antioxidant activity of ascorbic acid during film processing.
• Films containing SLM presented high UV-barrier and lower water vapor permeability.

Incorporation of additives into polysaccharide-based films has emerged as a new strategy to release additives in food under specific conditions. However, there are no reports on the microencapsulation of additives with a hydrophobic agent prior to their addition to the polymer, which could stabilize the active compound and control its release. Therefore, this work aimed to produce films consisting of starch isolated from plantain bananas of the variety “Terra” incorporated with lipid microparticles containing ascorbic acid. Films produced by casting were characterized with regard to moisture, density, mechanical properties, color and opacity, light transmittance, water solubility, water vapor permeability, water uptake, XRD, and antioxidant properties. As a result of the lipid fraction enveloping the particles present in the packaging material, films additivated with lipid microparticles containing ascorbic acid showed lower water vapor permeability and elongation as well as higher tensile strength as compared with a control film containing no additives. In addition, films incorporated with solid lipid microparticles containing ascorbic acid displayed lower light transmission than the control films and a commercial polyethylene film. The microparticles acted as protective agents of the ascorbic acid antioxidant activity during film production. The antioxidant activity remained as high as 84% after the drying process.

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