Peanut butter, particularly homemade varieties lacking antioxidants, is highly susceptible to oxidation, posing risks during processing, storage, and consumption. To address this, this study developed a novel chitosan film incorporated with Zingiber officinale Roscoe essential oil (GEO) to evaluate its antifungal properties and impact on peanut butter preservation. Results demonstrated that GEO acted as a potent inhibitor against Aspergillus flavus with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 8 μL/mL. Additionally, the antioxidant activity of the composite films increased with higher GEO concentrations. Physical assessments revealed these films possessed greater thickness and moisture content, alongside reduced water solubility and swelling compared to controls. The films' preservation efficacy was tested on peanut butter stored at 40°C for 21 days. The composite films effectively maintained texture properties, closely matching the hardness, cohesiveness, and gumminess of fresh peanut butter, while delaying adhesiveness increases. Furthermore, treatments with the highest GEO concentration significantly alleviated lipid and protein oxidation. This was evidenced by minimal increases in peroxide, acid, thiobarbituric acid values, and carbonyl content, alongside unchanged fatty acid and amino acid compositions, and stable protein electrophoresis band intensities. Sensory evaluations confirmed excellent overall acceptability comparable to fresh samples, proving this non-contact preservation method highly promising. • Composite films incorporated with chitosan and ginger essential oil is strong in inhibiting A. flavus contamination. • The composite films effectively improved the texture properties of peanut butter. • The composite films significantly alleviated lipid oxidation during 21 days storage. • The composite films significantly alleviated protein oxidation during 21 days storage. • The sensory parameters of peanut butter were maintained by the composite films.
Zhang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.