Composite films from chitosan and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) were prepared by solution mixing and a film casting procedure. The main objectives
of this study were the elaboration and the characterization of chitosan/PLA based bio-packaging for potential food applications and the study of
antifungal activity of coatings and films on three mycotoxinogen fungal strains, Fusarium proliferatum, Fusarium moniliforme and Aspergillus
ochraceus. The first part of the study was related to the impact of the PEG content, allowing an easy film recovery without considerably decreasing
the moisture barrier properties of materials: 16.6% of plasticizer was selected. Difficulties were however encountered to produce miscible PLA
and chitosan film forming solution, leading to heterogeneous films with high water sensitivity.
Although composite films offer a great advantage in preventing the surface growth of mycotoxinogen strains because of their antifungal
activity, the physico-chemical properties of such heterogeneous films, dramatically limit their further usage as packaging materials.