Assessment of curcumin incorporated chickpea flour/PEO (polyethylene oxide) based electrospun nanofiber as an antioxidant and antimicrobial food package

This study aimed to obtain curcumin encapsulated nanofibers as a potential food package and analyze physical properties and functional attributes, including antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Due to their non-toxic and biodegradable characteristics, chickpea flour/PEO were used as an external support matrix for curcumin. In this context, the effects of curcumin and heating methods (conventional and microwave) on solution and film properties were investigated. The SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) images showed that the fiber morphology of the microwave-treated samples was as smooth as those of conventionally-treated ones. Neither the addition of curcumin nor the different heat treatments had any significant impact on the water vapor permeability of the samples. However, the addition of curcumin shifted the onset degradation temperatures of the samples (T5%) by nearly 20 °C. Both the DPPH (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS (2,2′-Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt) scavenging activities of the curcumin-containing and microwave-treated (CUR/MW) samples were higher than those of the conventionally-treated (CUR/CON) samples. Although CUR/MW film had an antimicrobial effect on E.coli (ATCC 11229), it did not have any effect on S.aureus (ATCC 43300). Therefore, microwave heating could be preferred instead of conventional heating owing to the former’s time and energy efficiency characteristics and its higher level of contribution to film characteristics. It should also be noted that the addition of curcumin improved the functionality of the nanofiber films.