Physical, antibacterial and antioxidant properties of chitosan films containing hardleaf oatchestnut starch and Litsea cubeba oil

More and more attention was attached to food safety, it is necessary to endow food packaging films with good antibacterial and antioxidant properties Edible films based on chitosan (CH), hardleaf oatchestnut starch (HOS) and Litsea cubeba oil (LEO) were prepared by solution casting. The properties and structures of the blend film with different proportion (xCH/yHOS) were evaluated. The CH-HOS films were firstly prepared by blending CH solution with HOS paste. The tensile strength (TS) and DPPH radical scavenging ability of CH-HOS films increased from 27.33 MPa to 33.54 MPa and 20.67% to 52.34%, respectively, and water vapor permeability (WVP) decreased from 1.531 × 10−11 g m−1 pa−1 s−1 to 1.491 × 10−11 g m−1 pa−1 s−1, with the HOS content increased from the ratio of 1:0 to 1:1. Then, the LEO was added to 1CH-1HOS films. Tensile strength (TS), water vapor permeability, moisture absorption and total soluble matter (TSM) of the 1CH-1HOS film were remarkably decreased with 16%LEO. Meanwhile, the static contact angle and antimicrobial activity of 1CH-1HOS-16LEO film increased significantly. Hence, this blend film system has great potential for food packaging in the future.