As a packaging material, plastic has many advantages, but due to its poor degradability in the environment, other alternative materials with similar properties have been developed, but without negative consequences for the environment and people. One of them could be chitosan-based films with added natural extracts, which have good protective, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. However, their fate in the natural environment is practically unknown. Therefore, the aim of the thesis was to evaluate biodegradability of these films in the aqueous environment. We monitored the degradability of films based on changes in total polyphenolic content, films structure, and the FT-IR analysis. The results showed that chitosan-based films are not biodegradable in the aqueous environment, but some structural changes and appearance of the films due to the action of microorganisms occurred.
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