Compositional and Functional Profiling of Okra and Egyptian Mallow Agro-Waste Extracts for Edible Film Packaging

Recently biopolymer composites originated from affordable ecofriendly agro-waste, are applied for a broad array of applications in food industry. Natural polymers are economical, available from renewable sources, biodegradable with biosafety characteristics. The aim from current study was to evaluate polysaccharides extracted from okra and mallow agro-wastes for their phenolic composition, antioxidant activity, antimicrobial potentials, and film-forming properties incorporated with chitosan. HPLC analysis identified 19 phenolic compounds, with chlorogenic acid being the most abundant in okra polysaccharides (644.58 µg g-1). Okra and mallow polysaccharides exhibited strong antioxidant activity, with DPPH• radical scavenging percentages of 73.44% and 82.76%, respectively, and IC50 values of 0.262 mg mL-1 and 0.216 mg mL-1, significantly higher than chitosan (25.25%, IC50= 0.818 mg mL-1). Chitosan displayed remarkable Antibacterial effects against pathogenic bacteria which are both Gram-positive and Gram-negative, whereas okra and mallow polysaccharides showed no direct antibacterial effect under experiment conditions. Films prepared from chitosan and chitosan okra/ mallow polysaccharide composites were thin, flexible, and uniform, with increased thickness and opacity, while glycerol enhanced flexibility and improved homogeneity. These findings indicate that chitosan okra/ mallow polysaccharide films from agro-wastes can serve as functional, eco-friendly packaging materials with enhanced antioxidant properties, offering potential applications in food preservation and bioactive compound delivery.