Cellulosic board-based packaging is very widely used in commercial products, especially in the food and personal care sectors. The use of biomolecules with antimicrobial properties can improve the shelf life of the packed perishable product and ensure a greater product safety. Chitin and chitosan are polysaccharides derived from natural resources with antimicrobial properties that are suitable also for food contact applications. In this paper the preparation of chitosan and chitin-based treatments were studied to treat board. Different mixtures, mainly based on chitin or on chitosan, were used to prepare films by solvent casting analysing the effect of the solvent, drying temperature and the addition of a plasticizer onto tensile properties. The study allowed selecting suitable compositions for board treatments. Results of bending stiffness tests and water absorptiveness indicated that the treatment based on chitin was the most promising, because of its better capacity of not modifying the board properties and thickness ascribed to its good capability of linking to cellulosic fibres. These treatments resulted effective in reducing the growth of bacteria and moulds on the boards; therefore, they reduced the number of bacteria present in starch-based food packed in treated board, thus showing the possibility of effectively improve the shelf life of perishable products.

Chitosan and nano-structured chitin for biobased anti-microbial treatments onto cellulose based materials

Panariello L.;Coltelli M. B.
;
Lazzeri A.
2019-01-01

Abstract

Cellulosic board-based packaging is very widely used in commercial products, especially in the food and personal care sectors. The use of biomolecules with antimicrobial properties can improve the shelf life of the packed perishable product and ensure a greater product safety. Chitin and chitosan are polysaccharides derived from natural resources with antimicrobial properties that are suitable also for food contact applications. In this paper the preparation of chitosan and chitin-based treatments were studied to treat board. Different mixtures, mainly based on chitin or on chitosan, were used to prepare films by solvent casting analysing the effect of the solvent, drying temperature and the addition of a plasticizer onto tensile properties. The study allowed selecting suitable compositions for board treatments. Results of bending stiffness tests and water absorptiveness indicated that the treatment based on chitin was the most promising, because of its better capacity of not modifying the board properties and thickness ascribed to its good capability of linking to cellulosic fibres. These treatments resulted effective in reducing the growth of bacteria and moulds on the boards; therefore, they reduced the number of bacteria present in starch-based food packed in treated board, thus showing the possibility of effectively improve the shelf life of perishable products.
2019
Panariello, L.; Coltelli, M. B.; Buchignani, M.; Lazzeri, A.
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/996118
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 35
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 29
social impact