The Effect of Sorbitol Addition on the Characteristic of Carrageenan Edible Film

Edible film is a thin layer functioning for packaging or coating of food ingredients. Edible films can be made up from basic ingredients such as carrageenan as it is cost efficient and environmentally friendly. Carrageenan edible film is fragile and therefore it is important to add sorbitol as a plasticizer to produce a more elastic and stronger edible and meet the standard. This study aims to determine the effect of sorbitol concentration addition on a characteristics of edible film carrageenan, and to determine the optimal addition of sorbitol concentration in producing carrageenan edible film with the best characteristics. This study used a completely randomized design (CRD) with four types of treatment of different sorbitol concentrations, namely 0%, 2%, 4%, 6%. Each treatment was conducted five times. The results and analysis of the data showed that the addition of sorbitol concentration could affect the characteristics of edible film carrageenan, including its thickness, tensile strength, and elongation at break. On the other hand, the transmission rate of edible film carrageenan vapor was not affected by the addition of sorbitol concentration. The addition of 6% sorbitol concentration resulted in carrageenan edible film with thickness of 0.222 mm, tensile strength of 7.136 kgf/cm2, broken extension of 20.46%, and water vapor transmission rate of 6.83 g/m2/day.