Highly stretchable, smooth, and biodegradable hydrogel films based on chitosan as safety food packaging

Intelligent food wrapping materials have sparked interest in preserving food from spoilage until it reaches to consumers. Sufficient moisture from the air can be picked up by the food to encourage microorganism’s growth. One of the most significant matters in food chemistry is bright packaging which enables the researchers to keep an eye on the quality of food. In the light of these factors, the researchers made long efforts to synthesize responsive-stimuli chitosan hydrogels from shrimp shell preparative chitosan which cross-linked with different weights of 1,6-diisocyanatohexane in refluxing 1% glacial acetic acid. Alternatively, the newly harvesting hydrogels were screened as meat and chicken smart packaging because they were soft, biodegradable, and flexible instead of plastic packaging that is nonbiodegradable and causes environmental pollution. The flexibility enabled hydrogels to be folded around the meat and chicken pieces. The synthesized hydrogels were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analyses. © The Author(s) 2020.