Recent advances in edible coating of food products and its legislations: A review

Abstract

Food products are highly perishable in nature which undergoes quick quality deterioration. In this note, the kind of packaging decides the active preservation of food qualities. Especially, edible coating plays a significant role in minimizing the post-harvest losses like moisture loss, ripening and physio-chemical losses. The application of edible coating shows promising results in increasing the shelf-life, also preserving its quality.

Highlights

• Edible coating of food products effectively reduces the post-harvest losses.
• Dipping is the most common edible coating method in practise.
• Various materials used and the regulatory aspects of edible coating were discussed.

The application of edible coating for foods could be an alternative for harmful non-biodegradable packages. This current review provides the elaborate research knowledge on edible coatings composition, methods of production, regulations, pros and cons.

Introduction

The consumption of healthy and natural foods is amplifying the need for fresh food produce in the market throughout the year. As the population increases the requirements in food sector also multiplies drastically. Though there are numerous existing food processing facilities, the requirements could not be matched up in eco-friendly manner. In addition, the fresh produces are mostly perishable by nature, also leads to quality deterioration quickly during storage and transportation [1]. Therefore, it faces major post-harvest losses in various manners before reaching the consumers. A study Galanakis [2]. revealed that about one third of food is wasted worldwide, around 14% waste occurs in various processing levels like harvest, farming and slaughtering. Thus, there is a huge demand in the food industry for finding alternative and innovative ways to enhance the shelf life of fresh foods including fruits and vegetables. The packaging sector takes an integral part in deciding the shelf life of foods. The conventional packaging material is composed of non-biodegradable compounds.

These compounds after the usage leave undesirable and unhealthy impacts on the environment. Since the consumers prefer highly safe and stable food products [3], the rise in biodegradable films and coatings turns into a vital segment in the packaging sector. The thickness below 0.025 mm is considered as edible coating whereas the thickness above 0.050 mm is considered as edible films/sheets [4]. These edible coatings and films not only fulfil the packaging needs but also minimize the post harvest losses of the fresh foods. The edible films can be used as an inner layer directly interacting with the foods in multi-layered packages with non-edible films. They can be effectively used in pizza, pie and candies to preserve their inner moisture and solute movement [5]. Apart from this, edible coatings can be used to preserve fresh and minimally processed fruits and vegetables [6,7], cheese [8] and meat products [9].

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Krishna Priya, Nirmal Thirunavookarasu, D.V. Chidanand, Recent advances in edible coating of food products and its legislations: A review, Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, Volume 12, 2023, 100623, ISSN 2666-1543, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafr.2023.100623.

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