AG/ZN ZEOLITE CONTAINING ANTIBACTERIAL COATING FOR FOOD-PACKAGING SUBSTRATES

Antibacterial packaging is gaining a lot of importance in the food industry. Plastics such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polyamides, polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinylidene chloride copolymers, etc., and paper, paperboard, and aluminum foils have been used as food-packaging materials. In the past, aluminum foil had found wide application in food packaging since it has a high barrier to light, moisture, oxygen, other gases, and volatile aromas. It is believed that aluminum foil coated with antibacterial material may play a role in extending shelf life of ready-to-eat food products and increase the quality and safety of the food products. In this study, silver- and zinc-supported zeolite 4A was prepared by ion-exchange method. A 6-10 mu m thick vinyl acetate lacquer with antibacterial zeolite was cast onto the aluminum foil. This aluminum foil was later exposed to bacterial growth test and was shown to exhibit a very good antibacterial property against Escherichia coli. These antibacterial coatings could be useful for aluminum foil/plastic film laminates.