Characterization and release modelling of fish gelatin/succinic anhydride starch nanocomposite films containing Stureja Khuzestanica Jamzad essential oil

Abstract Fish gelatin (FG) and succinic anhydride starch (OSAS) composite films loaded with 1, 2, 3 and 4 wt% bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) and Stureja Khuzestanica Jamzad essential oil (SKEO) were achieved successfully and their physicochemical and release properties were investigated. The results revealed that by enhancing the BNC concentration until 4 wt% the water solubility and water vapor permeability of samples increased significantly (p < 0.05) due to the hydrophilicity of BNC. Moreover, incorporation of BNC improved the tensile strength from 3.81 in control film to 7.03 in film containing 4 wt% BNC which was also confirmed with FE-SEM, FTIR and XRD. FE-SEM approved the reduction of small cracks within the structure of film samples with the incorporation of both BNC and films became more homogeneous. Study the release profile of SKEO in 4 and 37 ̊ C from nanocomposite films revealed that incorporating 4 wt% BNC had the most controlling effect on release of SKEO and the dominant release mechanism was the Fickian diffusion. This research demonstrated the FG/OSAS nanocomposite films containing SKEO would be a suitable candidate for active food packaging.