Abstract
Background: Strawberries are non-climacteric fruits with a low respiration rate, but are subject to serious fungal deterioration during postharvest handling. The edible coatings based on chitosan (CH), quinoa protein-chitosan (Q/CH) and quinoa protein-chitosan-sunflower oil (Q/CH/SO) may provide a solution to this problem. Thus, in this work CH, Q/CH and Q/CH/SO were elaborated and applied to fresh strawberries, and its effect on the strawberries shelf life during storage for 15 d was evaluated by mold and yeast count, fungal decay, carbon dioxide rate, physicochemical properties, and sensory evaluation. Results: On all analysis days, the strawberries coated with the film-forming CH, Q/CH and Q/CH/SO solutions presented a significant lower amount of mold and yeast growth than the uncoated strawberries. Coated strawberries with Q/CH/SO decreased the CO 2 emission rate by 60% compared to the uncoated strawberries. The color of the strawberries was not influenced by the films. There was no significant difference between the different coating groups and the uncoated group in the physicochemical parameters. Sensory analysis showed that the coating application retained the total sensorial quality. Conclusions: Fresh strawberries coated with CH, Q/CH/SO and Q/CH edible films had longer shelf lives than uncoated fruits.
Highlights
Edible films have been widely studied and used to coat strawberries, despite investigations in the field, a successful formula that will maintain its quality and increase its shelf life has still not been reached [1,2,3]
The coating that formed over surface presented a continuous appearance, which confirmed that the application technique was effective
This experiment is important because none of the publications reviewed in the literature report this aspect
Summary
Edible films have been widely studied and used to coat strawberries, despite investigations in the field, a successful formula that will maintain its quality and increase its shelf life has still not been reached [1,2,3]. The combination of refrigeration and the use of edible films can increase the postharvest shelf life of strawberries, the major problems that need to be confronted are to prevent water loss and microbiological development, and keep their organoleptic properties during storage [4,6,7]. In this work CH, Q/CH and Q/CH/SO were elaborated and applied to fresh strawberries, and its effect on the strawberries shelf life during storage for 15 d was evaluated by mold and yeast count, fungal decay, carbon dioxide rate, physicochemical properties, and sensory evaluation. Results: On all analysis days, the strawberries coated with the film-forming CH, Q/CH and Q/CH/SO solutions presented a significant lower amount of mold and yeast growth than the uncoated strawberries. Conclusions: Fresh strawberries coated with CH, Q/CH/SO and Q/CH edible films had longer shelf lives than uncoated fruits
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
