Bio-based films from quince by-products: A sustainable alternative for biodegradable food packaging

Quince (Cydonia oblonga Miller) is a seasonal fruit that is commonly processed by the food industry to produce marmalades, jellies and wines, resulting in a large amount of by-products. The filmogenic capacity of quince seeds has been well studied in the literature, but not that of the entire by-product generated in the industry. This work addresses the study of the filmogenic capacity of these by-products, at two formulation levels (QW1 and QW2), and compares them with that of only seeds (QS) in terms of physicochemical, optical, mechanical, morphological, antioxidant and thermal properties. The yield of mucilage obtained from both by-product formulations doubled the obtained from isolated seed (22–27 % vs. 10.9 %) and showed higher tensile strength (106–107 % vs. 85.3 %) and elongation at break values (2–3 vs. 1.9 MPa). The three types of films showed excellent protection properties against UV radiation, attractive optical properties and good DPPH radical scavenging capacity (34–37 %). Microstructural changes over time in the morphology of the three films were also observed by scanning electron microscopy between 24 and 48 h.