Constructing a biodegradable carrageenan based food packaging film according to the synergistic strategies between peppermint essential oil and thymol

The research and development trend of food packaging is changing from synthetic polymers to eco-friendly materials such as polysaccharides and other hydrocolloids, aiming to solve the problem of pollution from plastic wastes. In this work, a biodegradable food packaging noted KC/PT film was constructed using konjac glucomannan (KGM)/carrageenan (CAR) composite as the matrix and peppermint essential oil (PO)/thymol (THY) with synergistic effect as the reinforcements. The KC/PT film showed great mechanical properties, UV-blocking activity, increased water contact angle and reduced water vapor permeability. Due to the synergistic effect between PO and THY, the KC/PT film showed excellent antioxidant performance and antibacterial behavior against Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 19115 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538. The antibacterial mechanism was further illustrated. The prepared KC/PT film, as a unique packaging film, not only successfully extended the shelf life of strawberry to 16 days at 4 °C, but also well expressed its environmental friendliness that it could nearly degrade after 47 days in natural soil conditions. Most importantly, the film exhibited good stability in terms of mechanical properties, antioxidant activity and antibacterial performances after 4 months storage. Therefore, the film the KC/PT film has great potentials in the field of food packaging area.