Research: Increasing the barrier properties of whey protein coatings

Whey protein is an excellent barrier material, potentially providing the low oxygen permeability and water vapour transmission rate required for packaging materials for sensitive foods. A topical issue is how to reduce the permeability of the whey protein-based layers. One possible strategy is to apply crosslinking agents.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany used the enzyme transglutaminase (TG) for this purpose. The use of TG was found to reduce the oxygen permeability, the water vapour transmission rate and the effective water vapour diffusion coefficient of the whey protein layers. An article about the research was published in Packaging Technology and Science.
Click here for an abstract of the article.

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