Sustainable gelatin-kappa carrageenan active packaging with Mekwiya date seeds to enhance goat meat quality and shelf life.

This research aimed to elaborate a gelatin-Kappa carrageenan-based packaging with 0.22 %, 0.44 %, and 0.88 % w/v of Mekwiya date palm seeds extract (DSEMK). This extract improved the mechanical, physical, and thermal properties of the films. Moisture content, water solubility, and water vapor permeability were reduced from 17.54 ± 0.02 to 12.18 ± 0.02, from 77.61 ± 0.02 to 25.35 ± 0.29 %, and from 5.28 ± 0.29 to 1.69 ± 0.03 g s^-1 m^-1 Pa^-1 × 10^-10, respectively. During thermal degradation, DSEMK4 film had a residual weight of 27.99 %, compared to 20.67 % for the control. Despite a decline in the film's tensile strength from 24.19 to 8.94 MPa with the incorporation of DSEMK, elongation at the breaking point increased from 37.66 ± 0.16 to 46.17 ± 0.25 %. The film containing DSEMK4 displayed the highest phenolic contents and illustrated the best antioxidant effects in DPPH and FRAP assays, with IC_50s of 756 and 1445 μg/mL, respectively and inhibited pathogen growth on the meat surface. Over storage at 4 °C, monitoring of pH, lipid and protein oxidation parameters, microbial spoilage, optical properties, and sensory attributes disclosed that the DSEMK-films successfully enhanced the meat quality and safety. These findings were supported by principal component analysis and heat maps.