Development of bio-based chitosan films with incorporated chestnut extract

Abstract

Hydrolysable tannins have prominent biological activity and thus their industrial application is gaining importance in many fields. This study explored the possibility for the utilization of a commercially available chestnut extract (CE) as an active component in chitosan-based films intended for food packaging. Therefore, a set of chitosan-based films with incorporated CE was prepared and evaluated regarding physicochemical properties. The estimated total phenolic content (TPC) has revealed a maximal value of 19.5 mgGAE gfilm-1. Moreover, the moisture content (MC) in the films has decreased (from 29.6% to 18.6%), while tensile strength (TS) has increased (from 13.5 MPa to 48.5 MPa) after the incorporation of CE. The observed coherence between TPC and evaluated properties has been confirmed by the existence of strong negative and positive linear correlations in the case of MC and TS, respectively. In large, CE extract was found to be a promising candidate as an active component in chitosan-based films.