Abstract

Fresh fish spoils rapidly, and conventional petroleum-based packaging provides limited protection against the oxidative and proteolytic reactions that restrict its shelf life. This study evaluated whether combining quince seed mucilage (QSM) with zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) in a chitosan produces a bionanocomposite film with greater protective capacity than either component alone. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fillets were coated with chitosan (C), chitosan/quince seed mucilage (C/QSM), chitosan/1% ZnO-NPs (C/1%ZnO-NP), chitosan/quince seed mucilage/1% ZnO-NPs (C/QSM/1%ZnO-NP) films and stored at 4 °C for 15 days. pH, peroxide value (PV), thiobarbituric acid (TBA), total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) and sensory attributes were investigated. ZnO-NP-containing films kept TVB-N below the 35 mg N/100 g acceptability limit throughout storage, whereas C and C/QSM exceeded it by day 12 (35.80 and 35.04 mg N/100 g). TBA values remained below 8 mg malondialdehyde (MDA)/kg in all groups, with C/QSM/1%ZnO-NP the lowest (p

Key words: Bionanocomposite film,Chitosan, Oncorhynchus mykiss, Quince seed mucilage,ZnO nanoparticles