Starch-based films: Major factors affecting their properties

Starch is the most popular plant polysaccharides, which has been widely used for the development of edible coating films because of its abundance, cost-effectiveness, and excellent film-forming abilities. Starch-based films have good optical, organoleptic and gas barrier properties, however, they have poor mechanical properties. Many attempts have been made to overcome these limitations, such as the addition of co-biopolymers or other secondary additives to improve the mechanical and tensile properties of the films. Properties of the starch-based films can be influenced by many factors, including types of starches, temperature and time during film formation, plasticizers, co-biopolymers, and storage conditions. Understanding the mechanisms of these factors is very important for future studies on the development of starch-based films. This review focuses on starch as a film/coating material and comprehensively discusses the effects of major factors on properties of starch-based films.