ORIENTAL JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY www.orientjchem.org An International Open Access, Peer Reviewed Research Journal ISSN: 0970-020 X CODEN: OJCHEG 2021, Vol. 37, No.(2): Pg. 362-367 This is an Open Access article licensed under a Creative Commons license: Attribution 4.0 International (CC- BY). Published by Oriental Scientific Publishing Company © 2018 Physico-chemical Characterization of Edible Packaging Film Supplemented with Ocimum (Tulsi) Essential oil SIMRANPREET KAUR and CHAYANIKA PUTATUNDA* Department of Microbiology, DAV University, Jalandhar, Punjab, India. Present Address- Om Sterling Global University, Hisar, Haryana, India. *Corresponding author E-mail: putatunda7@gmail.com http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/ojc/370214 (Received: December 24, 2019; Accepted: March 16, 2021) ABSTRACT The concern about the possible adverse health effects of plastic based food packaging as well as the environmental pollution caused by plastics has lead to efforts in looking for alternative, eco-friendly and biocompatible food packaging materials. In the present investigation, a composite edible film was prepared from whey, pectin and gelatin, which was supplemented with Ocimum essential oil. These films were characterized for thickness, transparency towards visible and UV-light, and total moisture content. Antimicrobial activity of these films were examined against Escherichia coli MTCC 118, Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC 741, Staphylococcus aureus MTCC 96, Bacillus cereus MTCC 1272 and Pseudomonas fluorescens MTCC 103. The film activity was found to be maximum against B. cereus with 8 mm zone of inhibition on addition of 6% of Ocimum essential oil. The films were also active against all other pathogens except P. aeruginosa. Keywords: Edible packaging, Whey, Pectin, Gelatin, Ocimum, Anti-bacterial. INTRODUCTION The numerous benefits of edible packaging such as biodegradable nature, cost effectiveness, being pollution free, potential carrier for antioxidants or antimicrobials, nutritional, safe to consume, good barrier to gases and moisture, shelf life enhancement etc. has increased adoption of edible films as an alternative method of packaging by manufacturers and this factor heightens growth of the global edible films and coatings in the market. The edible films can be prepared from polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids; the polysaccharides used are starches and modified starches, chitosan, alginates, gums, cellulose derivatives and pectin 1 . These edible films prevent moisture loss and causes controlled exchange of gases, which are necessary for respiration. Normally proteins and polysaccharides derived edible films are fragile and thus, plasticizers are to be integrated in order to increase its pliability. Commonly used plasticizers are monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, polyols, lipids, and their derivatives. On the other hand, use of preservatives has increased in the food industry to protect food from getting damaged by microbes and increasing the food shelf life. However, many of the commonly