Physical properties and storage stability of fish scale gelatin based hydrogel under refrigerated conditions

Abstract

In this study, gelatin based hydrogels are prepared using fish scale discarded as waste by the fish processing plant. The physical quality and storage stability of the gel in refrigerated conditions were studied. In order to enhance their storage quality and safety, gels are prepared with the addition of permitted antifungal agent, sodium benzoate at three different concentrations viz 0.1%, 0.5% and 1%, and subsequently stored in refrigerated and room conditions. During storage, the parameters deciding physical quality of the gels such as weight loss, moisture loss, rate of shrinkage were found affected invariably in all the gels with different diameter i.e. 10 mm, 15mm and 20 mm Ø. However, the effects were highly pronounced in gel with 20 mm thickness Ø. During one month storage, about 20-24% weight loss was observed in 10 mm Ø and 15mm Ø. The result indicated that the type of storage influenced the growth of fungi. Addition of antifungal agent had significantly reduced the fungal growth and the gel treated with 1% sodium benzoate had much lower counts. This study helped as to prepare hydrogel utilizing fish scale that can be held safe at room temperature without any quality defect.