Novel dimethylacrylamide/gelatin/rosehip based smart hydrogels as a color sensor in food packaging materials

Abstract New food packaging technologies are developing rapidly in line with the demands of consumers and the trends of the food industry. In the presented study, it was aimed to synthesize a new and smart hydrogel (p (Gelatin‐co‐DMAAm)/CA‐Rh) (GDCa‐Rh) from dimethylacrylamide (DMAAm), gelatin, citric acid (CA), and Rosehip (Rh) using the redox polymerization technique and use it as a color sensor in food packaging materials. To impart antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anthocyanin properties to the synthesized smart hydrogel, Rh was added to the reaction mixture. The structure/mechanical properties of GDCa‐Rh were elucidated by dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA), thermogravimetric (TG) analyzer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The antimicrobial activity of GDCa‐Rh was tested against Escherichia coli , Bacillus subtilis , and Staphylococcus aureus . Finally, to determine the effectiveness of synthesized GDCa‐Rh on real samples, whole‐pasteurized milk/cheese was selected as real samples. The results showed that GDCa‐Rh was a good color indicator and exhibited good antimicrobial activity on whole‐pasteurized milk/cheese. By means of synthesized smart GDCa‐Rh hydrogels, harmful effects such as oxidation reaction, external moisture absorption or loss, physical damage, and biological degradation can be observed in the packaged product, and this new material will be a solution to the deficiencies faced by today's food packaging.