EXTRACTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF TIKHUR STARCH(CURCUMA ANGUSTIFOLIA) AND ITS UTILISATION IN THEDEVELOPMENT OF EDIBLE FILMSParvinder Kaur, A A Broadway, Tanweer Alam, John David and Amit ChattreeAbstract Isolation and characterization of starch from Curcuma angustifolia rhizome (Tikhur) was carried out for thedevelopment of novel edible food packaging film.Various characteristics viz. physicochemical and functionalwas studied for determining its suitability for edible film development. The low percentage of ash, proteinand fat revealed the purity and high quality of isolated starch. Functional characteristics indicated goodpaste clarity and water retaining capacity. The isolated starch contains 31.9 ± 0.45% amylose which offerbetter stability and film forming property. Isolated starch was used for the development of edible foodpackaging film by solvent casting method and its mechanical, optical, barrier, thermal, and morphologicalproperties were examined. The developed starch film displayed good tensile strength and flexibility. Thecharacteristic diffraction peak of the starch film showed more crystalline structure than the amorphousstructure. The thermogravimetric investigation revealed the required thermal stability of extracted starchfilm for the packaging of food products with 40% of the mass loss occurred between 330 °C and 410 °C. Thefilm was uniform, transparent and easy to handle. The study showed that Curcuma angustifolia rhizomestarch is a sustainable starch source for application of starch in food packaging industry. |