Synthesis and characterization of antibacterial membranes based on Polyvinyl acohol/agar incorporated with betel leaf extract for application in food packaging

Abstract

     The aim of this study is to successful synthesis of antibacterial membranes based on a combination of polyvinyl acohol (PVA), Agarose (Agar) and betel leaf extract (BL). The composite membranes containing low BL content of 1% was prepared via the simple casting method. The results obtained from SEM analysis showed the uniform dispersion of BL into PVA matrix. It can be found a decrease in the luminous transmittance of composite film while the haze percentage  increased compared with bare PVA film. In addition, the inhibition against Salmonella Typhimurium of PMA membranes has significantly improved with only the corporated 1% BL. The result exhibited that PMA-BL film can inihibite Salmonella Typhimurium after 6 hours exposure with the addition of 1% BL content. Hence, the obtained results indicated the promising application of PMA membrane combined with betel extract in the food packaging.