Highly efficient antifogging and antibacterial food packaging film fabricated by novel quaternary ammonium chitosan composite.

In this work, a multifunctional food packaging composite coating with transparent, biodegradable, antifogging and antibacterial properties was designed and fabricated by quaternary ammonium salt modified chitosan (HACC) and poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) via a facile and environment-friendly solution casting method. A simple quaternization modification enabled the coating simultaneously to achieve excellent antifogging and antibacterial functions. The excellent antifogging property of the HACC/PVA composite coating was attributed to the strong water absorbency of quaternary ammonium chitosan and PVA. A nearly 98% transmittance ratio of coated glasses was achieved during antifogging test. In addition, the inhibition rate of the HACC/PVA composite coating kill against Escherichia coli (E. coli), Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Botrytis cinerea were up to ~99%. The antibacterial effect was demonstrated by each group of strawberries after storage for 1, 3, 5 days. The multifunctional coating has broad prospects in the application of fruit and vegetable packaging.