Investigation of galactomannan/deacetylated chitosan nanocomposite films and their anti-bacterial capabilities

The topic of edible packaging is still of interest to the food industry and other organizations funding research to solve packaging dilemmas. In this research, galactomannan (GM) was used as raw material and deacetylated chitosan (DC) was used as a modifier to prepare GM-based packaging films. The properties of films of different DC content were carefully studied. The obtained GM/DC nanocomposite films showed superior hydrophobicity of 107° and high tensile strength of 107 MPa. The nanocomposite films showed great antibacterial properties against different kinds of bacteria including Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. When adding 60% of DC into GM, the antibacterial rate of GM/DC nanocomposite film against E. coli, B. subtilis, S. aureus, and S. pneumoniae reached 33%, 99%, 47%, and 92%. As the result, the GM/DC packaging film provides high potentials for future plastic packaging alternatives.