Amazon-sustainable-flour from açaí seeds added to starch films to develop biopolymers for active food packaging

The wide consumption of açaí fruit results in large amounts of seeds which end up in waste. These seeds have an advantageous composition for the development of biopolymers due to their fibers content and active components (responsible by functional properties as antioxidant capacity). In the present work, active polymers were generated incorporating açaí seed flour in sustainable films produced using starch from broken rice grains as matrix. The effects of different seed flour content (0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%) were studied on the physicochemical and structural properties of the polymers, and their antioxidant capacity. The packaging-related properties were affected by the açaí seed flour incorporation mainly due to its high-fiber content and polyphenolic compounds. The physicochemical and structural properties results demonstrated that the incorporation of 5% of açaí seed flour was the most appropriate, because of its better distribution in the film matrix. Free radical scavenging and reducing power assays indicated the antioxidant potential of the açaí seed flour incorporated films. Thus, active and sustainable polymers for food packaging can be obtained from açaí seeds and broken rice grains, generating new polymers and converting them into valuable raw materials in the market. © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.