Investigation of the Physicochemical and Antibacterial Activities of Plant Extract of Juniperus communis L. With Poly(Butylene Adipate‐Co‐Terephthalate) Films for Food Packaging

ABSTRACT In this work, a plant‐based composite materials that can be used as food packaging has been developed. Juniperus communis L. extract, which is known to have good antibacterial activity, was added to poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate) (PBAT) at different percentage (1%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%) and produced films by solution casting method. All the prepared PBAT films were subjected to characterization techniques like attenuated total reflection‐infrared spectroscopy (ATR‐IR), x‐ray diffraction (XRD), surface morphology, thermal stability, mechanical strength, film color, opacity, wettability, and antibacterial properties. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was conducted on thermal stability of PBAT composite films. To examine the suitability of composite films for food packaging, measurements on opacity and water vapor permeability have been performed. It was determined that the higher the percentage of Juniperus communis L., which enhanced the test results. The PBAT composite films' antibacterial activity against both gram‐positive ( S. aureus ) and gram‐negative ( E. coli ) bacteria was tested. The optimum antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli was observed in the PBAT composite film with 20% of Juniperus communis L. plant extract. However, it can be supposed that the food packaging characteristics are improved by adding Juniperus communis L. plant extract to the PBAT.