Novel Antioxidant Active Packaging Approach: Combination of Aquafaba and Essential Oil to Prevent Lipid Oxidation in Fish

Active packaging has commonly consisted of several bioactive compounds that improve sensory characteristics, protect quality, and extend the shelf life of food products. With a better understanding of the importance of plant-based protein sources, the utilization of by-products of any food item has taken interest in both academia and industry. Aquafaba, as an accepted legume by-product, offers several benefits in the food industry owing to its gelling property and high emulsifier and stabilizer capacity. Over the years, essential oils have been used as an antioxidant agent in the active packaging approach to prevent lipid oxidation, especially in highly perishable foods. Edible films are produced with lyophilized aquafaba from chickpeas and lemon essential oil at 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0%. Sea bream fillets coated with aquafaba, and lemon essential oil contained edible film and were stored in a refrigerator (at 4°C) for 13 days. A non-coated sample and only aquafaba containing edible film were considered negative and positive controls, respectively. The antioxidant capacity of edible films was controlled by the DPPH method, and the lipid oxidation in coated sea bream was determined by TBA analyses during storage. The results clearly indicate that the highest antioxidant capacity was found in the edible film containing lemon essential oil at the 1.5% level. The results of TBA analyses showed that the antioxidant capacity of aquafaba edible oil without lemon essential oil addition was at its lowest ratio. The higher antioxidant capacity of edible aquafaba film prevents lipid oxidation in the sea bream. The developed aquafaba lemon essential oil edible films have the potential to be used as active antioxidant packaging in the food industry, especially for highly perishable food items.