The work aims to prepare bio-based films containing (cinnamon essential oil) CEO and tea polyphenol (TP) with both antioxidant and antibacterial properties, with polyvinyl alcohol/sodium carboxymethyl cellulose/black goji berry anthocyanin as the film-forming substrate, and with prepared CEO and CEO-TP functional emulsion as the antibacterial and antioxidant active components so as to explore their preservative effect on cherry tomatoes. The CEO/CEO-TP emulsion was first prepared by the oil-in-water method, and then it was added to the film substrate to obtain antibacterial composite films. The mechanical, optical, barrier, thermal, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties of the composite films were systematically characterized to elucidate the differential effects of the active emulsions. Furthermore, the preservation efficacy on cherry tomatoes was evaluated with weight loss, firmness, titratable acidity (TA), and total soluble solids (TSS) as quality indicators. Results demonstrated that increasing the loading levels of CEO and CEO-TP significantly enhanced the comprehensive performance of the films, with the CEO-TP synergistic system outperforming the standalone CEO formulation. Notably, at a 20% loading level, both composite films exhibited bacterial inhibition rates exceeding 90%, while their DPPH radical scavenging activities reached 78.6% and 81.3%, respectively, markedly higher than the control group. The PVA/Na-CMC/BW-CEO-TP film exhibits the optimal preservation efficacy, effectively retarding quality deterioration and extending the shelf life of cherry tomatoes, thereby demonstrating substantial potential for active food packaging applications.
Key words
cinnamon essential oil /
tea polyphenols /
antibacterial /
antioxidant /
preservation
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