Visual Ph-Sensing Films Based Nata De Coco Containing Curcumin

as Package Indicator Labels for Detecting Fish Freshness

Handika Dany Rahmayanti

, Septia Ardiani

, M. Suryani

, Nurul Akmalia

and Tipri Rose Kartika

Graphic Technology Department, Study Program of Packaging Technology, State Polytechnic of Creative Media,

Jl. Srengseng Sawah, Jakarta 12630, Indonesia

Publishing Department, Study Program of Publishing, State Polytechnic of Creative Media, Jl. Srengseng Sawah,

Jakarta 12630, Indonesia

Publishing Department, Study Program of Advertising, State Polytechnic of Creative Media, Jl. Srengseng Sawah,

Jakarta 12630, Indonesia

Keywords: Curcumin, Nata De Coco, Indicator Labels, Fish Freshness.

Abstract: Currently, chemical indicators have been used for fresh meat and aquatic products to monitor their

freshness. Among these, the colorimetric indicators like pH-sensitive dyes provide visual information of

packaged foods to consumers. In recent years, several studies have been carried out using colorimetric

indicators to evaluate fish freshness by utilizing changes in pH in fish. Natural dye pigments can be used as

an alternative to colorimetric indicators which are considered safer, non-toxic, easy to prepare, and

economical when compared to chemosynthetic dyes. Recently, more researches have focused on curcumin

(CR), which is extracted from the curcumin. Curcumin based edible freshness sensor with membrane nata

de coco bacterial cellulose can be applied on the packaging of mackerel fillet as an indicator freshness. The

edible freshness sensor is light yellow when the mackerel fillet is fresh and brown when the mackerel is

rotten. The pH value was observed to increase as the freshness level of the fish decreased.

1 INTRODUCTION

Fishery products are one of the food ingredients

favored by the community. Mackerel fish

(Rastelliger spp) is the result of processing fishery

products that are often found in the market. Fish are

susceptible to damage and have a short shelf life

(Pacquit et al., 2008). The deterioration of fish

quality is caused by enzymatic action and bacterial

action, which are able to decompose the components

that make up fish body tissues so as to produce

physical changes such as soft fish meat and chemical

changes that produce volatile compounds and have a

foul smell (D. A et al., 2017). Currently, the

assessment of fish quality degradation is still using

sensory methods, such as seeing the appearance and

color of the fish, smelling the fish's aroma, feeling

the texture of the fish. Fish that are damaged by

microorganisms will produce volatile nitrogenous

base compounds or also called total volatile bases

nitrogen (TVB-N). Traditional methods of quality

evaluation can provide precise quantitative results

(S. T et al., 2006), but they are time-consuming and

have complicated procedures (Z. L et al., 2011). For

example, Kjeldahl method for total volatile basic

nitrogen (TVB-N) content, an important indicator of

fish spoilage

(R. J & E. L, 1991).

Hence, the development of convenient, rapid and

low-cost methods to evaluate fish freshness is in

great demand. One concept is that of an intelligent

or smart food packaging which gives an indication

of the freshness of fish samples end-to-end (B. L et

al., 2002). This novel packaging can be made

available for consumers or users to evaluate the real-

time freshness. Currently, chemical indicators have

been used for fresh meat and aquatic products to

monitor their freshness. Among these, the

colorimetric indicators like pH-sensitive dyes

provide visual information of packaged foods to

consumers. The mechanism is that the release of

volatile amines results in pH increase of the

packaging headspace, and then a color change of the

pH-sensitive dye physically trapped in the polymer

film will be observed when volatile amines are in

high enough concentrations in headspace (P. A et al.,

2007).

Rahmayanti, H., Ardiani, S., Suryani, M., Akmalia, N. and Kartika, T.

Visual Ph-Sensing Films Based Nata De Coco Containing Curcumin as Package Indicator Labels for Detecting Fish Freshness.

DOI: 10.5220/0011862000003575

In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Engineer ing Science (iCAST-ES 2022), pages 663-668

ISBN: 978-989-758-619-4; ISSN: 2975-8246

663

In recent years, several studies have been carried

out using colorimetric indicators to evaluate fish

freshness by utilizing changes in pH in fish. Huang,

et al. (Huang et al., 2011) who evaluated the

freshness of fish using bromcresol purple, green and

cresol red. Likewise Kuswandi, et al. (Kuswandi et

al., 2012), who evaluated polyaniline-based

colorimetric indicators for detecting spoilage in fish.

However, the use of these chemical compounds is

starting to be avoided because they have potential

harmful effects on humans that are carcinogenic or

mutagenic (Srivastava et al., 2004; Zhang et al.,

2014). Natural dye pigments can be used as an

alternative to colorimetric indicators which are

considered safer, non-toxic, easy to prepare, and

economical when compared to chemosynthetic dyes

(Choi et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2014). Recently,

more researches have focused on curcumin (CR),

which is extracted from the curcumin. It is a

biologically active member of curcuminoids and

widely used as a spice and colorant (M. et al., 2017).

CR is a lipophilic phytochemical that has been found

to possess pH-dependent solubility(W. L. et al.,

2019). Musso, Salgado, and Mauri (Y. S. et al.,

2017) found that the use of an ethanol-water mixture

as solvent for CR could intensify the color response

capacity of CR/gelatin films against pH changes.

The use of colorimetric indicators requires a

membrane as a reaction medium between reagents

and analytes in a sensor manufacture. The use of

bacterial cellulose as an edible membrane can be an

option because it is made from natural materials,

environmentally friendly and safe for consumption

(A. L. et al., 2020). One of the commonly known

bacterial cellulose products is nata de coco (H. D. et

al., 2018). This study aims to determine whether the

edible freshness sensor can be applied as an

indicator of the freshness of mackerel fillets, carried

out various tests of parameters of the freshness level

of mackerel fillets, and the relationship between

changes in the color of the sensor and various

parameters of the freshness level of mackerel fillets.

1.1 Materials and Method

The materials used in this study were mackerel fillet

(Rastrelliger spp) and curcumin purchased at the

Modern Market in Depok Indonesia, unsweetened

nata de coco purchased at the marketplace, aquades,

96% ethanol, chitosan and acetic acid. The

membrane cellulose is made from basic ingredients

of nata de coco using the mixing and casting method

and then drying the sample. The mixing method is

mixing the ingredients using a hot plate stirrer or

magnetic stirrer. The mass of acetic acid as an

additive was varied from 15 ml, 20 ml and 25 ml,

while the mass of nata de coco and chitosan used

remained at 16 grams and 0.2 grams. For pH testing,

1 g of the sample was crushed and dissolved in 20

mL of distilled water and homogenized. The acidity

level was measured with a pHmeter that had been

previously calibrated with standard buffers 4, 7, and

10.

1.2 Result and Discussion

The first stage has successfully made a membrane as

an indicator label media. The membrane is made

from basic ingredients of nata de coco using the

mixing and casting method and then drying the

sample, as shown in Figure 1. The mixing method is

mixing the ingredients using a hot plate stirrer or

magnetic stirrer. The mass of acetic acid as an

additive was varied from 15 ml, 20 ml and 25 ml,

while the mass of nata de coco and chitosan used

remained at 16 grams and 0.2 grams. Curcumin

extract is made from 50 grams of curcumin that has

been mashed using a blender then added 10 ml of

Ethanol, after being smooth squeezed to get extract

from curcumin.

Figure 1: The process of membran made based nata de

coco.

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664

If observed directly, all the resulting samples

show a visual like plastic. Plastic is usually used to

package fish like many we find in supermarkets.

Therefore, the membrane used for labeling this

indicator must have plastic-like properties. The

sample with 15 ml of acetic acid variation showed a

flat, transparent, odorless but brittle visual as shown

in Figure 2. While the 20 ml and 25 ml variation of

acetic acid showed a stronger sample when pulled.

However, the sample with 25 ml of acetic acid

variation showed a strong sour smell. This happens

because of the high content of acetic acid as a

mixture in the manufacture of samples.

Figure 2: The result of membrane with various acetic acid

15 ml.

To determine the properties of the resulting

sample more accurately, sample characterization

was carried out which included weigh, thickness,

transparency testing and microscope observations.

Tests were also carried out on the three types of

plastic commonly used in the market as a

comparison (plastic A, plastic B and plastic C).

Table 1 show that characteristic of sample

membrane with composition nata de coco, chitosan

and acetic acid, we abbreviate nata de coco with

NDC, Chitosan with CH and Acetic acid with AA.

Table 1: The characteristic of sample membrane.

Weight

(gr/m

)

Thickness

(micron)

Transparen

cy (%)

Membrane 1

(NDC+CH+15 ml AA)

29.6 25.8 89.24

Membrane 2

(NDC+CH+20 ml AA)

30.1 27.1 95.52

Plastic A 31.8 27.8 -

Plastic B 46.2 30.1 -

Plastic C 37.4 29.3 97.16

The samples that were characterized were only

samples with variations of 15 ml and 20 ml of acetic

acid while 25 ml were not tested. The results of the

basic weight test of the sample with a variation of 15

ml of acetic acid showed a weight of 29.6 gr/m

which means that every 1 m

weighs 29.6 grams.

The basic weight of the sample with a variation of

20 ml of acetic acid showed heavier results, namely

30.1 gr/m

. These results show a weight that is

almost the same as plastic packaging on the market,

namely plastic A. The results of testing the thickness

of the sample with a variation of 15 ml of acetic acid

showed a thickness of 25.8 microns while the

thickness of the sample with a variation of 20 ml of

acetic acid showed thicker results, namely 27.1

micron. These results show a weight that is almost

the same as plastic packaging on the market (plastic

A) of 27.8 microns.

The sample transparency test was characterized

using a UV-Vis spectrometer. The results obtained

from testing using a UV-Vis spectrometer are the

values and graphs of transmittance at certain

wavelengths. Materials that are able to transmit

more light are transparent materials. Therefore,

materials that have a high transmittance value are

related to materials with a high level of transparency

(H. D. et al., 2018). Tests were also carried out on

the type of plastic (plastic C) commonly used in the

market as a comparison. The test results of the UV-

Vis spectrometer are as shown in Figure 3. The level

of transparency of the sample is visually shown in

the Figure 4. The membrane sample with a variation

of 20 ml of acetic acid had a higher transparency

value than other methods. The value of the

transparency of the membrane sample is also the

closest to the value of the transparency of the plastic.

Figure 3: The result of

spectrometer uv-vis test.

Figure 4: These

two figures have

been placed side-

by-side to save

space. Justify the

caption.

Visual Ph-Sensing Films Based Nata De Coco Containing Curcumin as Package Indicator Labels for Detecting Fish Freshness

665

Furthermore, the process of immobilization of

curcumin extract on the membrane. The membrane

used was a membrane with a composition of nata de

coco, chitosan and 20 ml of acetic acid. Curcumin

extract is made from 50 grams of curcumin that has

been mashed using a blender then added 10 ml of

Ethanol, after being smooth squeezed to get extract

from curcumin. Preparation of curcumin extract as

shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Preparation of curcumin extract.

Next, make an indicator label by immobilizing

the curcumin extract on a piece of membrane with a

size of 2cm x 1cm for 30 minutes and dry it. After

the sample was dry, the membrane was put into a

closed container with plastic wrap containing 10 ml

of NH₄OH solution, then do the same with the

solution to measure the pH. Then monitor both for

30 minutes-1 hour once in 24 hours, the results are

as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Preparation of curcumin extract.

Then the results of the curcumin extract were

carried out by varying the pH using acetic acid and

NaOH, by inserting 2 ml of curcumin extract into 5

small bottles then 2 bottles being adjusted to pH = 3

and pH = 4 with the addition of acetic acid and 3

bottles adjusting the pH to pH = 10, pH = 11 and pH

= 12 with added NaOH. This stage serves to make

an indicator solution.

Figure 7: Preparation of curcumin extract.

Next, test the indicator label of the curcumin

extract by cutting the cellulose membrane with a

size of 3cm x 2cm, then dripping 15 drops of

curcumin extract then let stand for 30 minutes and

dry. The test was carried out using mackerel. Fresh

mackerel fish (fish (Rastelliger spp) was stored with

an indicator label in a closed container and then the

pH was measured for some time. Color of indicator

labels stored with fish for 24 hours was shown in

Figure 8.

Figure 8: Color of indicator labels stored with fish for 24

hours.

The color change on the label that is put into a

container containing fish after rotting is the same as

the color change on the label that is dripping with

NH₄OH. This shows that the curcumin indicator

label can work in responding to the decline in fish

quality. The color change in the curcumin extract

solution when the pH was varied using acetic acid

and NaOH, to determine whether curcumin extract

iCAST-ES 2022 - International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Engineering Science

666

could be an indicator of freshness to fish. The pH

value of mackerel fillet was determined using a pH

meter. The results of pH observations can be seen in

Table 2.

Table 2: The result of pH test.

Hours pH

0 6

0.5 6.1

1.5 6.6

4 6.7

9 6.8

12 6.9

16 7

18 7.5

21 7.5

24 8

Along time the storage of fish fillets bloating has

decreased in good quality microbiological, chemical,

physical and organoleptic. Based on the results of

color sensor observations freshness of edible on

mackerel fillet packaging on room temperature

storage, freshness sensor color edible changes along

with changes in the freshness level of mackerel

fillets. Sensor color the freshness of the edible light

yellow at the time of fillet fresh mackerel, until

brown when it is rotten or cannot be consumed. This

is because the number of microbes in fish fillets

stored at room temperature has increased with the

length of storage time (A. L. et al., 2020).

Enhancement The number of microbes will produce

volatile nitrogen base compounds or also called total

volatile nitrogen bases (TVB-N), which mostly

consist of trimethylamine (TMA), dimethylamine

(DMA), and ammonia. The compound can be used

to determine the freshness of fish, the maximum

limit of TVB-N in fish that can be consumed

(Bhadra et al., 2015). Enhancement TVB-N

concentration resulted in an increase in pH on fish

and the atmosphere around the sensor becomes

alkaline, resulting in a change in the color of the

sensor edible freshness (P. A et al., 2007). Mackerel

fillet texture value experienced decreased during

storage at room temperature. A decrease in the

texture value indicates the presence of decrease in

fish quality. When fish experience decrease in

quality, fish meat will soften due to remodeling of

the muscle tissue by enzyme activity in protein

hydrolysis (Wibowo et al., 2014). In addition, the

results of the organoleptic assessment of odor and

the appearance of the color of the fish meat stored in

room temperature decreases with time storage time.

2 CONCLUSION

Curcumin based edible freshness sensor with

membrane nata de coco bacterial cellulose can be

applied on the packaging of mackerel fillet as an

indicator freshness. The edible freshness sensor is

light yellow when the mackerel fillet is fresh and

brown when the mackerel is rotten. The pH value

was observed to increase as the freshness level of the

fish decreased.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you for the Riset Keilmuan Terapan Dalam Negeri

Dosen Perguruan Tinggi Vokasi research grant from the

Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology,

Republic of Indonesia No. 0769/D6/KU.04.00/2021.

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