Shelf life of cashew nut kernels packed in banana starch‐based nanocomposites.

Summary: Starch‐based films incorporated with cellulose nanofibres (CNFs) were tested as packaging to improve the stability of cashew nut kernels (CNKs). CNKs were conditioned in four packings: commercial polyethylene film (PEF), starch film (CF), nanocomposite CHF (starch + CNFs from chemical hydrolysis) and nanocomposite EHF (starch + CNFs from enzymatic hydrolysis). Effect of the packaging methods on peroxides value (POV), acidity value (AV), weight gain (WG), water activity (Aw), hardness and colour properties of the CNKs was investigated. CNKs packed with CHF and EHF showed lower POV (0.91 and 0.92 meqperoxide/kgsample, respectively) after 21 days of storage than other packed (1.07–1.13 meqperoxide/kgsample) and unpacked samples (1.32 meqperoxide/kgsample). CNKs packaged with nanocomposites presented similar WG to samples packaged with PEF and lower values than unpackaged CNKs. Biodegradable nanocomposites films showed potential to be used as packaging for food product, being an effective material for extending oilseeds shelf life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]