CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Environmental concerns enhance and stimulate the use of renewable resources for producing economically convenient applications to maintain or even improve life quality. In particular, chitosan, the de-N-acetylated form of chitin, is a natural cationic polysaccharide, natural, non-toxic, biodegradable and available commercially, that has been employed in a variety of applications. It is a well-known biopolymer with a broad antimicrobial activity against bacteria and fungi that also acts as stabilizer of hydrocolloids -lipids mixtures, promoting emulsion formation and interfacial stabilization. Chitosan films have a selective permeability to gases (CO2 and O2) and good mechanical properties. However, due to their hydrophilic nature, they are poor barriers to moisture, which limits their uses. This is an important drawback since an effective control of moisture transfer is a desirable property for most foods. Thus, the objective of this work is to improve the resistance to water of chitosan films by the addition of hydrophobic compounds such as olive oil and at the same time, to improve the mechanical response by the incorporation of cellulose nanofibers.