Recent progress in konjac glucomannan-based active food packaging films and property enhancement strategies

Konjac glucomannan (KGM), a polysaccharide extracted from konjac, is a safe and edible polysaccharide substance. Many recent studies have reported a series of applications for converting KGM into active food packaging films. However, the pure KGM-based film lacks mechanical properties or gas barrier properties due to strong hydrophilicity, so it has several disadvantages that cannot satisfy the needs of actual food packaging applications. Several effective strategies have been developed to obtain KGM-based films with improved properties. This review comprehensively reviewed the results of recently published studies on functional and physical properties enhancement of KGM-based films. We discussed the advantages and challenges of some strategies used to improve the performance of KGM-based films, including blending with other biopolymers or active materials, emulsion-based film systems, multilayer film systems, electrospinning, and microfluidic spinning techniques. We also discussed the practical application of KGM-based films for active food packaging.