Study of contact angle, wettability and water vapor permeability in carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) based film with murta leaves (Ugni molinae Turcz) extract

► Edible films and coatings with antioxidant compounds can improve the food quality and safety. ► An adequate film design includes an adequate control of wettability and water barrier properties. ► The surface tension of the solid affects the spread properties of film solution. ► The dispersive component of skins surface tension was key in the wettability. ► The murta leaves extract used did not modify the film solution and the studied film properties. Edible films have been extensively studied with the aim to find an adequate formulation that allows improving food quality and safety. Both wettability and water-barrier properties are two important parameters that must be considered for an adequate design of edible coatings. The aim of this work was to measure the contact-angle of film solution based on carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) with murta leaf (Ugni molinae Turcz) extract to estimate the wettability on apple and quince skins and measure the water vapor permeability (WVP) of films. The results show that murta leaves extract did not affect the contact angle and wettability measured on the fruits surface. However, differences were obtained between apple and quince skin which can be explained because the dispersive component of surface tension of quince skin was lower than apple skin. The WVP was not affected by murta leaves extract incorporation. This allows concluding that the film properties assayed were not modified by the incorporation of murta leaves extract ecotype 14-4.