Antibacterial and antioxidant water-degradable food packaging chitosan film prepared from American cockroach

Traditional food packaging films made of plastic have caused serious damage to the environment. Chitosan film is a potential substitute but it is weak in antioxidant activity. In this study, the extract and chitosan from American cockroach were combined to produce a new environment-friendly chitosan film for food packaging. The chitosan film was easily degraded by water, avoiding accumulation in the environment. The addition of American cockroach extract improved the antioxidant activity of the chitosan film (up to 50 times higher than that of pure chitosan film when considering reducing capacity) and did not weaken its efficient antibacterial activity. In practical application, the packaged food was protected by the chitosan film from fast decay and oxidation for 15 days and 48 h, respectively. These results suggested that the new chitosan film possessed the potential for food packaging and improved the value of American cockroach.