Chitin is the structural material of crustaceans, insects, and fungi, and is the second most abundant biopolymer after cellulose on earth. Chitosan, a deacetylated derivative of chitin, can be obtained by deacetylation of chitin. It is a functionally versatile biopolymer due to the presence of amino groups responsible for the various properties of the polymer. Although it has been used for various industrial applications, the recent one is its use as a biodegradable antimicrobial food packaging material. Much research has been focused on chitosan-based flexible food packaging and edible food coatings to compete with conventional non-biodegradable plastic-based food packaging materials. Various strategies have been used to improve the properties of chitosan - using plasticizers and cross-linkers, embedding the polymer with fillers such as nanoparticles, fibers, and whiskers, and blending the polymer with natural extracts and essential oils and also with other natural and synthetic polymers. However, much research is still needed to bring this biopolymer to industrial levels for the food packaging applications.

Industrial relevance

As a major by-product of the seafood industry, a massive amount of crustacean shell waste is generated each year, which can be used to produce value-added chitin, which can be converted to chitosan using a relatively simple deacetylation process. Being extracted from a bio-waste product using many energy-efficient methods, chitosan is much cheaper as compared to other biopolymers. Nevertheless, the exceptional properties of chitosan make it a relatively stronger candidate for food packaging applications. Chitosan has already been used in various industries, such as biomedical, agriculture, water treatment, cosmetics, textile, photography, chromatography, electronics, paper industry, and food industry. This review article compiles all the essential literature up to the latest developments of chitosan as a potential food packaging material and the outcomes of its practical utilization for this purpose.

中文翻译：

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用于食品包装的壳聚糖基可生物降解功能膜

甲壳素是甲壳类，昆虫和真菌的结构材料，是仅次于纤维素的第二大生物聚合物。壳聚糖是几丁质的脱乙酰基衍生物，可以通过几丁质的脱乙酰基获得。由于存在负责聚合物各种特性的氨基，因此它是一种功能多样的生物聚合物。尽管已经用于各种工业应用，但是最近的一种是其用作可生物降解的抗菌食品包装材料。许多研究都集中在基于壳聚糖的柔性食品包装和可食用食品涂料上，以与传统的不可生物降解的塑料食品包装材料竞争。已使用多种策略来改善壳聚糖的性能-使用增塑剂和交联剂，将聚合物与诸如纳米粒子，纤维和晶须的填料一起包埋，然后将聚合物与天然提取物和精油以及其他天然和合成聚合物混合。然而，仍需要进行大量研究以将这种生物聚合物带入食品包装应用的工业水平。

行业相关性

作为海产品行业的主要副产品，每年会产生大量甲壳类贝壳废料，可用于生产增值的甲壳质，并可以使用相对简单的脱乙酰化工艺将其转化为壳聚糖。使用许多节能方法从生物废料中提取壳聚糖比其他生物聚合物便宜得多。然而，壳聚糖的卓越性能使其成为食品包装应用中相对更强的候选者。壳聚糖已经用于各种行业，例如生物医学，农业，水处理，化妆品，纺织，摄影，色谱法，电子，造纸工业和食品工业。