Evaluating the feasibility of using seaweed and pineapple leaves to develop moisture and blood-absorbent paper for fish packaging

Food packaging is crucial for perishable products such as seafood, which can spoil easily. This paper investigates the potential of using cellulose from pineapple leaves, which are generally discarded after harvesting, to produce moisture and blood-absorbing wrapping paper instead of wood fibre, which raises concerns about deforestation. Seaweed powder from Kappaphycus alvarezii was used as a bio-preservative to replace synthetic preservatives. A process was developed to produce paper using existing soda pulping methods to produce paper from pineapple leaves. Five different levels of seaweed powder were mixed with 20 g each of pineapple leaf pulp, from two different varieties. The properties of the papers were compared with a commercially available absorbent paper. The cellulose content in the pulps from two pineapple varieties was approximately 65%, indicating the feasibility of using pineapple leaf fibres to produce paper. The developed papers exhibited lower moisture and blood absorption times compared to the commercial paper. However, the results indicated that these properties could be improved in future method developments. The total plate count method revealed fewer colonies as the amount of seaweed increased, demonstrating the effectiveness of Kappaphycus alvarezii as a natural antimicrobial agent for use in moisture- and blood-absorbent papers. These findings highlight the potential of utilising pineapple leaf fibre and Kappaphycus alvarezii powder in the production of moisture- and blood-absorbent papers, offering a sustainable alternative with added antibacterial benefits.