Preparation and physicochemical evaluation of casein/basil seed gum film integrated with guar gum/gelatin based nanogel containing lemon peel essential oil for active food packaging application

In this study, the impact of adding lemon peel extract loaded nangel made of gelatin and guar gum in casein/basil seed gum film was examined. The films' mechanical, thermal stability, morphology, barrier, transmittance, antibacterial, antioxidant, and biocompatibility properties were investigated. The findings of this study demonstrated that incorporating the nanogels loaded with lemon peel extract in casein-basil seed gum (CB) film led to improve the properties of CB film including the mechanical properties, thermal stability, hydrophobicity, water vapor permeability, and water solubility, and also changed the color of the films, and slightly decreased the light transmission. The SEM images showed that in low percentages of nanogel, there is no significant dif-ference in the roughness of the surface, but in higher percentages, an accumulation of nanoparticles has occurred on the surface. All films containing nanogel had good antioxidant properties and it was also observed that they had an inhibitory effect against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. None of the films had toxicity for endothelial cells line for 72 h. Therefore, CB films containing nanogel loaded with lemon peel extract have good potential for food packaging.