Edible Alginate–Lecithin Films Enriched with Different Coffee Bean Extracts: Formulation, Non-Cytotoxic, Anti-Inflammatory and Antimicrobial Properties

The aim of this study was to analyze the functional properties of newly obtained films based on sodium alginate and lecithin with the addition of antioxidant-rich coffee extracts and to verify their potential as safe edible food packaging materials. In our study, we developed alginate-lecithin films enriched with green or roasted coffee bean extracts. The roasting process of coffee beans had a significant impact on the total phenolic content (TPC) in the studied extracts. The highest value of TPC (2697.2 mg GAE/dm³), as well as antioxidant activity (AA) (17.6 mM T/dm³), was observed for the extract of light-roasted coffee beans. Films with the addition of medium-roasted coffee extracts and baseline films had the highest tensile strength (21.21 ± 0.73 N). The addition of coffee extract improved the barrier properties of the films against UV light with a decrease in the transmittance values (200-400 nm), regardless of the type of extract added. Studies on Caco-2, HepG2 and BJ cells showed that digestated films were non-cytotoxic materials (100-0.1 μg/cm³) and had no negative effect on cell viability; an increase was noted for all cell lines, the highest after 48 h in a dose of 1 μg/cm³ for a film with medium-roasted coffee (194.43 ± 38.30) for Caco-2. The tested films at 20% digestate concentrations demonstrated the ability to reduce nitric oxide (NO) production in the RAW264.7 cell line by 25 to 60% compared to the control. Each of the tested films with coffee extracts had growth inhibitory properties towards selected species of bacteria.