Physical properties and bioactivities of fish gelatin films incorporated with cinnamaldehyde-loaded nanoemulsions and vitamin C

In this paper, the natural antibacterial agent cinnamaldehyde (CA) was made into nanoemulsions to improve its water solubility. Subsequently, the active gelatin (GL-CA-Vc) films with antibacterial and antioxidant activities were prepared by combining silver carp skin gelatin with CA nanoemulsions and vitamin C (Vc). Compared with the gelatin control (GL-Control) film, the thickness, roughness and water vapor permeability (WVP) of active films increased significantly. In addition, the elongation at break (EAB) and light barrier property of active films were also enhanced. The antibacterial and antioxidant activities of active films were related to the content of active additives. The film containing 100 mg of CA and 50 mg of Vc (GL-100CA-50Vc) had good light barrier property and a high EAB (158.00 ± 12.51%). What's more, the inhibition rate of GL-100CA-50Vc film against Pseudomonas aeruginosa was 55.97 ± 4.25%, and the free radical scavenging rate of the film to ABTS and DPPH was 96.26 ± 0.72% and 95.74 ± 0.20% respectively, which indicated that the film had good antibacterial and antioxidant activities.