Biopolymer films for food industries: properties, applications, and future aspects based on chitosan

Chitosan is an N-deacetylate derivative of chitin, which can be found in crustaceans, insects, and fungi. In several studies, chitosan is pursued to be applied as an optional biopolymeric material in food, agriculture, and pharmaceutical industries. Owing to its high commercially potential properties, including good film forming ability, physicochemical properties, antimicrobial activity and non-toxicity, chitosan has been widely used as an active material for formation of edible films. Chitosan based films can be manu-factured for packaging, especially for edible food packaging. This is in accordance with green-consumption, which involves preference to materials derived from natural sources rather than synthetic substances. This manuscript provides an overview of the extensive research on chitosan properties, applications, and further aspect of chitosan based approach in food industries.