Incorporation of essential oils into pumpkin oil cake-based materials in order to improve their properties and reduce water sensitivity

Biopolymer-based materials present good alternatives for synthetic materials. However, their high water sensitivity may limit their usage for food products packaging. Addition of hydrophobic components into the material formulation could improve this property. In this work 3, 4 and 5 % (v/v) of Satureja montana or Ocimum basilicum essential oil was incorporated into biopolymer films based on pumpkin oil cake. The obtained materials were analyzed regarding mechanical, physicochemical, barrier and structural properties. Incorporation of the essential oils increased the thickness of the pumpkin oil cake film. Significant reductions in moisture sensitivity, related to physicochemical properties and water vapor transmission rate (almost for 30 %), were observed (p < 0.05). Improvement of light barrier properties was also observed so that the visible light transmission was decreased for around 50 % while the UV light transmission was lower than 1 %. The obtained FTIR spectra confirmed the presence of added essential oils in pumpkin oil cake films, as well as their influence on the reduction in the film surface hydrophilicity. However, mechanical properties, tensile strength and elongation at break, decreased significantly (p < 0.05). These results suggest that incorporation of Satureja montana or Ocimum basilicum essential oil improved barrier properties of pumpkin oil cake-based films and reduced the film affinity toward water.