Xanthohumol combined with chitosan-oxidized starch film as a potential new strategy for food packaging: Characterization, physicochemical and biological properties

Foodborne pathogens are still the main culprits causing food decay and diseases, while it has become a new development trend to use natural polymer biomaterials combined with natural active compounds in food packaging research. This study firstly combined isopentenyl chalcone active compound xanthohumol (XN) with cheap source potential and chitosan/oxidized starch film (CS/OS) to develop a novel multifunctional chitosan/oxidized starch/xanthohumol (CS/OS/XN) packaging film. The effects of different mass ratios (0.05 %, 0.1 %, 0.25 %, 0.5 % and 1 %) of XN on physicochemical and biological properties were studied. The results showed that CS/OS/XN films demonstrated non-chemical compatibility with enduring water vapor barrier ability and water locking performance. However, DPPH antioxidant assay showed that the antioxidant properties could not be improved significantly when the amount of XN was added less than 1 % and the antibacterial ability against Escherichia coli (E. coli) was significantly improved than Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). This study expanded the application of natural active compound for food packaging.