Edible coatings for fresh produce: exploring chitosan, beeswax, and essential oils in green chillies and pointed gourd

Abstract

In response to the rising global concerns over food sustainability and the pressing need to minimize waste, finding efficient, eco-friendly preservation techniques have become increasingly urgent to prevent environmental deterioration and ensure food security. The present study investigates the impact of edible coatings on the extended shelf life of pointed gourd and green chillies. A set of 3-point gourds and green chillies were divided into five groups – one was a control group, and the other four combinations of edible coatings were made of chitosan, chitosan with clove essential oil, beeswax, and beeswax with essential oil. Weight loss, visible decay, and visual surface colour change was evaluated. The control groups, to which no coating was applied, showed a loss in weight of 7.5% and visible decay starting from day 6. In contrast, the groups coated with chitosan showed a significantly reduced weight loss of 3.2% and delayed decay appearance until day 15. The most successful coating, however, was a combination of chitosan and clove essential oil. These outperformed the others by not only lowering weight loss to 1.8% but also delaying obvious degradation until day 15 at ambient temperature. The results showed that the coated samples experienced a longer shelf-life and less weight loss than the control sample. Further, the edible coatings with clove essential oil managed to reduce the microbial load of yeast and molds and it also increased antioxidant properties. Among the treated samples, chitosan incorporated with clove essential oil showed superiority in all enlisted parameters.

Keywords

• pointed gourd
• green chillies
• edible coating
• chitosan
• beeswax
• clove
• shelf life