A Chitosan Coating Containing Essential Oil from Origanum vulgare L. to Control Postharvest Mold Infections and Keep the Quality of Cherry Tomato Fruit

Abstract

The efficacy of an edible chitosan coating (CHI; 4 mg/mL) and Origanum vulgare L. essential oil (OVEO; 1.25 μL/mL) for maintaining the quality of cherry tomato fruit during storage at room (25°C; 12 days) and cold (12°C; 24 days) temperatures was assessed. CHI and OVEO in combination showed in vitro fungicidal effects against R. stolonifer and Aspergillus niger. CHI-OVEO coating reduced the incidence of black mold and soft rot caused by these fungi in artificially contaminated cherry tomato fruit during storage at both temperatures. CHI-OVEO coating delayed the appearance of the first visible signs of black mold and soft rot in artificially contaminated cherry tomato fruit stored at room temperature by 6 days and by more than 9 days in those stored at cold temperature. At the end of storage at room and cold temperature fruit coated with CHI-OVEO showed higher firmness (>2 N/mm) and lower weight loss (>2%) compared to uncoated tomato fruit. CHI-OVEO coating delayed the decrease of lycopene, ascorbic citric acid, glucose and fructose during the storage time assessed at room or cold temperatures. The increase of catechin, myricetin, caffeic and syringic acids was higher (1–9 mg/g) in cherry tomato fruit coated with CHI-OVEO compared to uncoated fruit during the storage at both temperatures studied. CHI-OVEO coating is a feasible treatment for maintaining the storage quality of cherry tomato fruit.

The performance of five fruit‐derived and freeze‐dried potentially probiotic Lactobacillus strains in apple, orange, and grape juices

“…The CIE Lab color scale (L*a*b*) was standardized using the illuminant D65, and measurements were made through an 8 mm port/viewing area. The L* (lightness), a* (color ranging from red to green) and b* (color ranging from yellow to blue) parameters were determined following the International Commission on Illumination procedures . Numerical values of L*, a* and b* were also converted into Δ E* (total color difference) using Eqn (1): …”

An Analysis of the Published Literature on the Effects of Edible Coatings Formed by Polysaccharides and Essential Oils on Postharvest Microbial Control and Overall Quality of Fruit

“…CH used in most of these studies had similar deacetylation degree (that is, ≥75%). Seven studies used medium molecular weight (MW) CH (Aloui et al., ; Athayde et al., ; Barreto et al., ; de Oliveira, Berger, de Araújo, Câmara, & de Souza, ; dos Santos et al., ; Oliveira, de Oliveira, Vieira, Câmara, & de Souza, ; Sun et al., ) and two studies used high MW CH (Cháfer, Sánchez‐González, González‐Martínez, & Chiralt, ; Perdones, Sánchez‐González, Chiralt, & Vargas, ). Eight studies did not cite the MW of tested CH (Azevedo et al., ; de Aquino et al., ; Sánchez‐González et al., ; Shao et al., ; Vu, Hollingsworth, Leroux, Salmieri, & Lacroix, ; Xing et al., ; Xing et al., , ).…”

“…Twenty‐four out of the 30 selected studies used EOs for the formulation of edible coatings, such as the EO from cinnamon (Etemadipoor et al., ; Maqbool et al., ; Xing, Li et al., ; Xing et al., , ), lemongrass (Athayde et al., ; Maqbool et al., ; Oliveira et al., ; Vu et al., ; Yousuf & Srivastava, ), peppermint (de Oliveira et al., ; Guerra et al., , ; Vu et al., ), bergamot (Aloui et al., ; Cháfer et al., ; Sánchez‐González et al., ), oregano (Andrade et al., ; Barreto et al., ; dos Santos et al., ; Rodriguez‐Garcia et al., ; Vu et al., ), rosemary (Andrade et al., ), clove (Shao et al., ), thyme (Bosquez‐Molina et al., ; Cháfer et al., ), tea tree (Cháfer et al., ), Mexican lime (Bosquez‐Molina et al., ), and Lippia gracilis (Azevedo et al., ; de Aquino et al., ). Only five studies used ICs to formulate edible coatings, to cite: carvacrol (de Souza et al., ; Sun et al., ), cinnamaldehyde and trans ‐cinnamaldehyde (Sun et al., ), thymol (Gniewosz & Synowiec, ), citral and eugenol (Guerreiro et al., ), and limonene (Vu et al., ).…”

“…Tween 20 and 80 are commonly used (17 studies) to homogenize the EOs or ICs into the polysaccharides dispersions (Aloui et al., ; Andrade et al., ; Athayde et al., ; Azevedo et al., ; Barreto et al., ; Cháfer et al., ; de Aquino et al., ; de Oliveira et al., ; Etemadipoor et al., ; Maqbool et al., ; Oliveira et al., ; Shao et al., ; Sun et al., ; Vu et al., ; Xing et al., 2011; Xing et al., , ). Three studies used only vigorous stirring for homogenizing EOs or ICs into the polysaccharides dispersions (Bosquez‐Molina et al., ; Guerra et al., ; Yousuf & Srivastava, ).…”

“…Sixteen studies used fungi as target organisms in antimicrobial assays in vitro (Aloui et al., ; Andrade et al., ; Athayde et al., ; Barreto et al., ; Bosquez‐Molina et al., ; de Oliveira et al., , ; de Oliveira et al., ; de Souza et al., ; dos Santos et al., ; Guerra et al., ; Maqbool et al., ; Oliveira et al., ; Rodriguez‐Garcia et al., ; Shao et al., ; Vu et al., ; Xing et al., ). Three studies used only bacteria as target organisms (Azevedo et al., ; de Aquino et al., ; Gniewosz & Synowiec, ) and two studies used both fungi and bacteria (Sun et al., ; Xing et al., ).…”