Edible antimicrobial coating produced from chitosan (CS) and its derivative was applied to improve the shelf life of fresh strawberries at 10 °C. Fruits treated with coating solution was stored at 10 °C and evaluated for weight loss, visual decay and microbiological analysis. Results indicated that the percentage weight loss and the decay were significantly (p < 0.05) lower for chitosan-monomethyl fumaric acid (CS-MFA) than that of CS and control samples. The total aerobic count for CS-MFA was 3.32 log CFU/fruit and was considerably lowered (p < 0.05) than CS (3.83 log CFU/fruit) and control (5.31 log CFU/fruit) at the end of storage. Fruit coated with CS-MFA showed significantly lowered (p < 0.05) count of yeast and molds when compared with CS. In conclusion, the antimicrobial edible coating based on modified CS improved microbiological characteristics and increased the shelf life from 4 (control) to 8 days (coated fruits).
Keywords: Chitosan derivatives; Edible coating; Shelf life; Strawberries.