Fish gelatin-chitosan edible films with D-limonene were successfully prepared, which exhibited exceptional mechanical properties and antimicrobial activity. It has been demonstrated that water-soluble chitosan, fish gelatin, and D-limonene could be a candidate precursor to prepare low cost and high-performance edible food packaging material. The results showed that D-limonene in the films could effectively resist the penetration of light and water because of its hydrophobicity. Moreover, the elongation at break (EAB) increased with the addition of D-limonene, which indicated that D-limonene served as a strong plasticizer for the film. Microscopic characterization showed that D-limonene was uniformly distributed in the as-prepared film. And we found that the film exhibited strong antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli). All the results indicate that the as-prepared film could be a promising food packaging
