Development and Characterization of Mustard Oil Incorporated Biodegradable Chitosan Films for Active Food Packaging Applications

Antimicrobial and biodegradable film-forming biopolymers are of tremendous interest for their possible use in food packaging applications. In this study, solvent casting and evaporation techniques were used to fabricate biodegradable active films from chitosan that contained Mustard oil (MO) at 0, 0.5, 1, and 2 Wt.% (v/v) concentrations. Then, it was evaluated if the chitosan films combined with MO could be employed as naturally biodegradable films for food application by examining the physical properties, mechanical, thermal, antibacterial, and antioxidant activities of various films. Potential interactions between the MO and chitosan were confirmed by Fourier- transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The elongation at break (EB) and the thickness of the films increased significantly because of the higher MO content. In contrast, there was a significant drop in water solubility, tensile strength (TS) and young’s modulus (YM), and moisture content. With the inclusion of MO, creases and tiny droplets were seen on the otherwise fine surface morphology of the films, which explained why TS and YM was reduced. The addition of MO enhanced the film's water vapor barrier properties while having slight improvement in their thermal stability. Moreover, the antibacterial and antioxidant characteristics of the chitosan films were evaluated and investigated, revealing a specific capacity to scavenge DPPH radicals while demonstrating a significant inhibitory effect against Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus ) and Escherichia coli ( E. coli ). The prepared composite films were 45–70% soil biodegradation after 21 days. In conclusion, the introduction of MO to chitosan-based films has shown significant promise for use in food packaging applications.