Edible coatings and films for processed meat products

Edible films and coatings can be defined as thin and edible coating materials which aregenerally applied to food surface or inside of it with different methods. Edible coatingsare used in fruit and vegetables after harvest keeping colour, sugar, acid, taste andflavour components and achieve consumer attractive products. For this reason,polysaccharide, protein, lipit films and composites are suggested. For create coatingwith edible films, dipping, spraying, puoring and in fluid bed technigues are used.ln this study; edible films which is made from locust bean gum (LBG) polymer areused in processed meat products to learn the effects of water transfer properties in thesefoods and the effects of these foods shelf life were studied. Firstly, according to theliterature LBG was isolated. At film construction, polyethylene glycol and glycerolwhich are at differrent molecule weight are used as a plasticizers with this filmsolutions processed meat products are covered water transfer properties of this samplesare measured at +5 ºC and fixsed relative humidity.At the end end of the research the weight loss values of products without films aremore high than products which are covered with films. It was determined that watervapour transfer properties of films with PEG 200 are beter than those having PEG 400and glycerol.Keywords: Locust Bean, Edible Film, Covering