Integrating diverse plant bioactive ingredients with cyclodextrins to fabricate functional films for food application: a critical review

Abstract

The popularity of plant bioactive ingredients has become increasingly apparent in the food industry. However, these plant bioactive ingredients have many deficiencies, including low water solubility, poor stability, and unacceptable odor. Cyclodextrins (CDs), as cyclic molecules, have been extensively studied as superb vehicles of plant bioactive ingredients. These CD inclusion compounds could be added into various film matrices to fabricate bioactive food packaging materials. Therefore, in the present review, we summarized the extraction methods of plant bioactive ingredients, the addition of these CD inclusion compounds into thin-film materials, and their applications in food packaging. Furthermore, the release model and mechanism of active film materials based on various plant bioactive ingredients with CDs were highlighted. Finally, the current challenges and new opportunities based on these film materials have been discussed.

Keywords:

• Cyclodextrin
• film
• food application
• mechanism
• plant bioactive ingredients

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Authors’ contributions

B.T. and J.L. drafted the manuscript. Y.L. and J.-B.W. conceived the idea, designed and coordinated the work, and critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31660490) and the Science and Technology Development Fund, Macau SAR (File no. 0074/2021/AFJ).