Vol. 12, Issue 6 (2023)

Author(s):
Shalini Singh, Aastha Dubey, Vishal Gangwar, Amit Kumar, Ajay Kumar, Manish Kumar and Mohd Wamiq

Abstract:
Fruits and vegetables are highly perishable commodities because of their high metabolic rates, loss of moisture, and susceptibility to diseases. As a result, the transportation and handling of horticultural goods result in considerable losses every year. Several pre-harvest, as well as post-harvest techniques, are available to reduce these losses. Among them, using edible coatings is an essential means to improve the shelf life of commodities. Edible coatings offer fresh produce, an additional layer of protection and have the same effect as modified atmospheric storage in terms of altering the internal gas composition. The management of internal gas composition is absolutely necessary for the effectiveness of edible coatings for fresh produce. The development of coatings with certain characteristics like enhanced performance due to the addition of specific texture enhancers, antimicrobials and nutraceuticals represents a paradigm change. By adding active chemicals to the polymer matrix of active edible coatings, which can be digested along with the food and improve safety, nutritional value, and sensory qualities, the keeping quality of the produce can be extended in a novel way. The smart edible packaging, on the other hand, uses immobilised antimicrobial nanoparticles that are put to the food surface to manage the release of active chemicals that prolong the storability. This review covers the properties of edible coatings and their mechanism of action, recent advances in the development of these coatings with the objective of maximising quality and storability of produce pointing towards a prospective view and future applications.