Recent advances in polysaccharide-based edible coatings for preservation of fruits and vegetables: A review

Harvested fruits and vegetables are prone to decay and quality deterioration during storage. Although traditional packaging and chemical treatments are effective, they are harmful to the environment and human health. Hence, higher requirements for food preservation technology are increasingly proposed. Nontoxic, renewable, degradable, and edible packaging for fruits and vegetables has become a research hotspot in recent years. Chitosan, alginate, cellulose, pectin, starch, and other polysaccharides as coating materials have been widely used. Compared with traditional plastic packaging and chemical treatment, these coatings exhibited a better preservation effect and higher safety. In this paper, the preservation mechanism of fruits and vegetables by edible coatings treatment was described, and the research on edible coatings used in fruits and vegetables was summarized. The effects polysaccharide-based edible coatings on physicochemical quality and antimicrobial effect of fruits and vegetables were reviewed.

Automated summary

Harvested fruits and vegetables are prone to decay and quality deterioration during storage. Traditional packaging and chemical treatments, although effective, are harmful to the environment and human health. As a result, there is a growing interest in non-toxic, degradable, and edible packaging materials for fruits and vegetables. Polysaccharides such as chitosan, alginate, cellulose, pectin, and starch have been widely used as coating materials. These coatings have shown better preservation effects and higher safety compared to traditional plastic packaging and chemical treatments.