Abstract
One of the possibilities in the great challenge to maintain the shelf-life of perishable fruits like the sweet cherry is the application of multicomponent edible coatings. In our study chitosan and grape seed oil multicomponent edible film was applied to protect the quality and delay the microbiological contamination of the fruits. Physical (weight loss, texture, colour), physico-chemical (antioxidant activity, acidity, refractive index and BRIX), sensorial (consumer test) and food-safety (total microbial count, total amount of molds and yeasts, pathogens) parameters were analyzed during 4 weeks of refrigerated storage following the changes of the fruit series. Our results show that the applied coating extended the shelf-life timing of the sweet cherry. The delay in the fruits’ decay was different for the samples coated with pure chitosan solution and chitosan-grape seed oil emulsion.
Keywords: Chitosan, Grape seed oil, Sensory evaluation, Physical properties, Antimicrobial effect, Anti-browning effect