Contamination of food samples with antibiotic resistant Salmonella Typhimurium has become a cause for concern due to difficulty in treating infections caused by this pathogen. In one approach, chitosan/PVA-based N-halamine (CPN) film was developed and tested for its efficacy in inactivating drug susceptible and ampicillin resistant Salmonella Typhimurium strains. The CPN film significantly (100%) inactivated the growth of both strains during the antimicrobial sandwich assay when tested for five days since film preparation, while the CH/PVA films showed around one log reduction (p<0.05). CPN films reduced the drug resistant strain's growth on cheddar cheese slices by 5-6 logs at 25°C and 3-4 logs at 4°C when packaged and stored over a period of five days unlike CH/PVA films that did not show significant reduction. The second approach involves the synthesis of a stronger chitosan N-halamine-based coating on plasma treated polycaprolactone film (CH-NX/PCL film). The FTIR peaks obtained for chitosan coated PCL film (CH/PCL) showed characteristic peaks of both PCL and chitosan, specifically at 1720 cm-1 and 3354 cm-1, respectively. The tensile strength of the PCL was higher, while the Young's modulus value was higher for CH/PCL. CH/PCL film showed better barrier against water and oxygen compared to PCL. The antimicrobial efficacy of the CH-NX/PCL film was 100% against both strains of Salmonella Typhimurium when compared to PCL and CH/PCL, indicating that this fabricated film has promising applications in food safety.
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