Vol. 12, Issue 3 (2023)

Author(s):
Uma Maheswari T and Selvi J

Abstract:
Due to increased demand in packaging films with more environmentally-friendly biodegradable materials. Recently, green packaging is gaining importance due to environmental and health reasons. Among various green packaging solutions, chitosan based films are becoming popular as it is commercially available seafood industry byproduct. It is non-toxic, biodegradable, has got strong antimicrobial and antifungal activities. It also has got good film forming property and has the ability to minimize respiration rate. But the main disadvantage is its relatively poor water vapour barrier characteristics. To improve the packaging property, composite coatings can be made using essential oils. Essential oils are gaining interest as natural preservatives which can reduce the risk of microbial attack especially fungi on perishables and also improves water barrier property of chitosan. Hence, chitosan and essential oil based composite packaging can be effectively used as biobased degradable packaging material. The antifungal activity of chitosan and four selected essential oils against Fusarium spp, Aspergillus spp, were tested and it was found that all essential oils @ 0.3% level completely inhibited the test organisms. Biodegradable packaging films were prepared using Chitosan @1% and 1.5% level with and without incorporating essential oil viz., tea tree oil, lemon grass oil, basil oil and thyme oil. It was found that films made with incorporating essential coil had good stability and strength. The addition of essential oil decreased the water vapour permeability, film solubility and swelling index which showed the improvement in moisture barrier properties of the films. The other physical properties of the films such as film thickness and water resistance got increased with addition of essential oil. Among the various essential oils used, tea tree oil and lemon grass oil were on par and recorded as best with improved physical properties. Hence, chitosan and essential oil incorporated films could be used in food packaging sector to replace the petrochemical based packaging material.