Edible Coating of Fruits and Vegetables Using Natural Gums: A Review

Water-soluble gums (hydrocolloids) are used for various applications as coating agents, packaging films, texture modifiers, thickeners, stabilizers and emulsifiers. Edible coatings are mostly used to increase food products appearance and extending shelf life of the fruits. Several studies have been carried out showing the potential use of natural gums such as chitosan, alginate, xanthan, gellan, mesquite, psyllium, basil seed, guar, tragacanth and arabic gums in edible coatings formulation and improving their properties. This review summarized the characterization of new biodegradable edible coatings based on natural gums on quality and shelf-life of apple, papaya, carrot, guava, plum, mango, apricot, banana, orange, mushroom and tomato. The edible coatings fabricated from natural gums could provide some benefits such as extended shelf life, delaying ripening, decrease the rate of respiration, biocompatibility and environmentally friendly, economically affordable, good mass transfer barrier characteristics, carriers of foods additives such as antioxidants, vitamins and antimicrobial compounds. The addition of 20% glycerol (w/w) to edible coatings solutions containing 1% gum was sufficient to achieve the high reduction of the fruits and vegetables weight loss.