Abstract
The growing demand for ready-to-eat fresh fruits has led to set-up appropriate strategies for preserving fruit quality and freshness of such commodities. To slow down the deterioration events such as respiration, moisture loss and enzymatic activity, ready-to-eat products should be protected with an edible film. A suitable coating should combine hydrophilic and hydrophobic features to ensure good mechanical and gas barrier properties. Alginate/essential oil nanoformulations, one with low and the other with high oil content, here proposed to protect apple pieces during storage, were first characterized through dynamic light scattering and rheology. The effect of the application of the nanoformulations on the quality parameters of apples stored at 4 °C was considered by evaluating weight loss, pH and titratable acidity, total phenols content and the fruit appearance during storage. Mainly on the basis of pH and titratable acididty variation, the nanoformulation with low oil content resulted eligible for preserving the quality of fresh-cut apple pieces during storage.
Highlights
The modification in consumers’ lifestyle and the high attention to healthy and nutritional food products enlarged the request of ready-to-eat products, such as fresh-cut fruit
The results indicated that an alginate-based edible coating formulation containing 0.3% lemongrass essential oil (LEO) was suitable for extending the fresh-cut pineapple shelf-life
Food-grade sodium alginate was obtained from Farmalabor, non-ionic surface-active agent polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monooleate (Tween 80), calcium chloride and citric acid were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich while Lemongrass (Cymbopogon nardus) Essential Oil (LEO) (Erbamea, San Giustino, Perugia, Italia) was purchased from a local shop
Summary
The modification in consumers’ lifestyle and the high attention to healthy and nutritional food products enlarged the request of ready-to-eat products, such as fresh-cut fruit. Raeisi and coworkers [14] studied the microbial quality of chicken meat fillets during storage time by using sodium alginate active coatings incorporated with different natural antimicrobials including nisin, cinnamon and rosemary EOs, added individually and in combination. They demonstrated that all treatments significantly inhibited microbial growth when compared to the control. Azarakhsh and co-workers [17] investigated on how different LEO concentrations dispersed into an alginate-based edible coating influenced respiration rate, physicochemical properties, and microbiological and sensory quality of fresh-cut pineapple during 16 days of storage. Physicochemical parameters such as pH, titratable acidity, weight loss and total phenolic content were analyzed during storage
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