Characterization and qualitative evaluation of cassava starch-chitosan edible food wrap enriched with culinary leaf powders for eco-friendly food packaging applications.

Cassava starch-based edible food wraps were prepared by incorporating leaf powder from Indian curry leaf and Malabar bay leaf, reinforced with different (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8) wt.% of chitosan. Eleven combinations of films were prepared and their sensory acceptability, physical properties, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic (FTIR) spectrum, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image, were evaluated. The thickness of the films ranged from 0.198  ±  0.12 to 0.372  ±  0.27 mm. Tensile strength was reported to be the highest (40.71  ±  1.21 MPa) in the curry leaf powder incorporated sample. Maximum elongation at break was reported by bay leaf powder incorporated (5.8  ±  1.59%) sample. The Young's modulus values were observed to be increasing along with the concentration of chitosan. Maximum seal strength values were reported by curry leaf powder incorporated film with 0.8% chitosan (2.93  ±  0.22 N/mm). The leaf powder incorporated samples reported a higher flavonoid content compared to the control. The color analysis (L*, a*, b*) of the films was identical to the natural leaf color. The SEM images indicated a rough texture for the leaf powder incorporated films. The FTIR evaluation confirmed the presence of the respective functional groups. The statistical evaluation done by statistical package for social sciences software showed that all the data were significantly different (P ≤ 0.05.). The study demonstrated the potential of incorporation of leaf powder and chitosan to enhance the properties of starch-based edible packaging.