Rocco Caliandro
Institute of Crystallography – CNR, Italy
Title: Enzymes and advanced materials for active food packaging
Biography
Biography: Rocco Caliandro
Abstract
The great antimicrobial and antioxidant potential of enzymes makes them prone to be used as active packaging materials. Major drawbacks are connected to the use of enzymes freely dispersed in solution, due to reduced protein stability. The immobilization of enzymes on solid supports to create biocatalytic interfaces has instead been proven to increase their stability and efficiency. A recombinant fungal laccase isoform was tested as potential antitoxin agent for food packaging. It has been successfully immobilized in its active form into hydrogel films. The recombinant enzyme, coupled with a proper laccase-mediator system, was effective in degrading widespread and very hazardous mycotoxins such as aflatoxin M1 and aflatoxin B1. As a second food packaging solution, advanced materials composed of hydrogel layers coated on hydrophobic membranes were used to grow lysozyme crystals as antimicrobial agent. The overall catalytic efficiency of the new antimicrobial biofilm was increased by a factor two compared to the pure enzyme dissolved in solution at the same quantity, and a 60-times lower amount of lysozyme was necessary to achieve a comparable antimicrobial activity.