Silvia A. Valencia-Chamorro

Antimicrobial Edible Films and Coatings for Fresh and Minimally Processed Fruits and Vegetables: A Review

The use of edible films and coatings is an environmentally friendly technology that offers substantial advantages for shelf-life increase of many food products including fruits and vegetables. The development of new natural edible films and coatings with the addition of antimicrobial compounds to preserve fresh and minimally processed fruits and vegetables is a technological challenge for the industry and a very active research field worldwide. Antimicrobial agents have been successfully added to edible composite films and coatings based on polysaccharides or proteins such as starch, cellulose derivatives, chitosan, alginate, fruit puree, whey protein isolated, soy protein, egg albumen, wheat gluten, or sodium caseinate. This paper reviews the development of edible films and coatings with antimicrobial activity, typically through the incorporation of antimicrobial food additives as ingredients, the effect of these edible films on the control of target microorganisms, the influence of antimicrobial agents on mechanical and barrier properties of stand-alone edible films, and the effect of the application of antimicrobial edible coatings on the quality of fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables.

Inhibition of Penicillium digitatum and Penicillium italicum by hydroxypropyl methylcellulose-lipid edible composite films containing food additives with antifungal properties.

New hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC)-lipid edible composite films containing low-toxicity chemicals with antifungal properties were developed. Tested chemicals were mainly salts of organic acids, salts of parabens, and mineral salts, classified as food additives or generally recognized as safe (GRAS) compounds. Selected films containing food preservatives were used for in vitro evaluation (disk diameter test) of their antifungal activity against Penicillium digitatum (PD) and Penicillium italicum (PI), the most important postharvest pathogens of fresh citrus fruit. Mechanical properties and oxygen (OP) and water vapor permeabilities (WVP) of selected films were also determined. Film disks containing parabens and their mixtures inhibited PD and PI to a higher extent than the other chemicals tested. Among all organic acid salts tested, potassium sorbate (PS) and sodium benzoate (SB) were the most effective salts in controlling both PD and PI. The use of mixtures of parabens or organic acid salts did not provide an additive or synergistic effect for mold inhibition when compared to the use of single chemicals. Barrier and mechanical properties of films were affected by the addition of food preservatives. Results showed that HPMC-lipid films containing an appropriate food additive should promise as potential commercial antifungal edible coatings for fresh citrus fruit.

Curative and preventive activity of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose-lipid edible composite coatings containing antifungal food additives to control citrus postharvest green and blue molds.

Edible composite coatings based on hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), lipid components (beeswax and shellac), and food preservatives with antifungal properties were evaluated in vivo on clementine mandarins cv. Clemenules, hybrid mandarins cv. Ortanique, and oranges cv. Valencia. Their curative and preventive activity against citrus postharvest green (GM) and blue molds (BM), caused by Penicillium digitatum (PD) or Penicillium italicum (PI), respectively, were determined. Fruits were artificially inoculated before or after the application of the coatings and incubated up to 7 days at 20 degrees C. Selected food preservatives included mineral salts, organic acid salts, parabens, and 2-deoxy-d-glucose. Inoculated but uncoated fruits were used as controls. For curative activity, HPMC-lipid edible composite coatings containing sodium benzoate (SB) were most effective in reducing the incidence and severity of GM on clementine mandarins cv. Clemenules (86 and 90%, respectively). On this cultivar, the reduction in GM incidence by the SB-based coating was twice that of potassium sorbate (PS)-based coating. On mandarins cv. Ortanique, PS- and SB-based coatings reduced the incidence of GM and BM by more than 40 and 21%, respectively. However, the HPMC-lipid coating containing a mixture of PS and sodium propionate (PS + SP) exhibited a synergistic effect in the reduction of the incidence of GM (78%) and BM (67%). Coatings with parabens modestly reduced disease incidence and severity. On oranges cv. Valencia, coatings with food preservatives better controlled BM than GM. Coatings containing SB + PS and SB + SP reduced the incidence and severity of BM by 85% and 95%, respectively. PS- and SB- based coatings controlled GM more effectively than coatings formulated with other food preservatives. In every cultivar, fruit coated before inoculation did not show any incidence or severity reduction of both GM and BM (preventive activity). In every test, the antifungal action of the coatings was fungistatic rather than fungicidal.