Preparation and performance evaluation of glucomannan–chitosan–nisin ternary antimicrobial blend film

The material behaviour and antimicrobial effect of konjac glucomannan edible film incorporating chitosan and nisin at various ratio or concentrations is discussed. This activity was tested against food pathogenic bacteria namely Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Bacillus cereus. Mechanical and physical properties were determined and the results indicated that the blend film KC2 (mixing ratio konjac glucomannan 80/chitosan 20) showed the maximum tensile strength (102.8 ± 3.8 MPa) and a good transparency, water solubility, water vapor transmission ratio. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), etc. were used to characterize the structural change of the blend films. The results showed that the strong intermolecular hydrogen bonds took place between chitosan and konjac glucomannan. Incorporation of nisin at 42,000 IU/g of film for the selected blend film KC2 was found to have antimicrobial activity against S. aureus, L. monocytogenes, and B. cereus. The antimicrobial effect of chitosan or KC2 incorporating nisin was much better than that of konjac glucomannan incorporating nisin at each corresponding concentration and existed significant difference (p < 0.05), however, there was no significant difference on the antimicrobial effect between chitosan and KC2 both incorporating nisin. At all these levels, the ternary blend film KC2-nisin had a satisfactory mechanical, physical properties and antimicrobial activity, and could be applied as a potential ‘active’ packaging material.