Tomato shelf-life extension via an edible coating
Researchers have presented a way of shelf-life extension of tomato using an edible coating of bitter almond gum-fish gelatin conjugates.
Edible coatings can potentially reduce postharvest losses of tomatoes and preserve their health-benefit nutrients. Sceintists have proposed that fish gelatin (FG) conjugated with bitter almond gum (BAG) may be suitable material for edible coating. Accordingly, coating dispersions were prepared with BAG, FG, or conjugates (1:2, 1:1, 2:1), and their effects were then investigated on the physicochemical and quality parameters of tomatoes during 28 days of storage at 20 °C.
Maintained fruit quality
The conjugate-based coating maintained most tomato physicochemical parameters better than simple coating. Also, the conjugates preserved better sensory attributes. Overall, BAG:FG (2:1) conjugate significantly delayed changes in firmness, lycopene content, titratable acidity, and limited weight loss and decay percentage to exhibit a protective performance for preserving tomatoes. Therefore, the conjugation FG with a higher BAG ratio can be promising to produce coating dispersion and maintain fruit quality while beeing stored.
The study has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 170, September 2022.
