Production of biodegradable edible films from corn based products and investigation of their physical and mechanical properties

In recent years، natural biopolymers such as starch have been paid more attention as alternatives to the petroleum-derived plastics for packaging films production. Nowadays، different modified starches with novel characteristics were proposed to the market and could be used in producing edible films. In this study، four corn-based edible films namely corn starch، pregelatinized starch، oxidized starch and corn flour were compared in all their physical and mechanical properties. Results showed that films obtained from oxidized starch have good appearance and transparency but because of high solubility and water vapor permeability (WVP) besides poor mechanical properties، is not much favorable candidate. Pregelatinized corn starch films were similar in many characteristics to simple corn starch but their WVP were high and did not have appropriate tensile strength. Films from corn flour were compatible in many functional aspects to simple corn starch films. However، all four type films exhibit highly biodegradable property.