Multifunctional edible chitin nanofibers/ferulic acid composite coating for fruit preservation

Abstract

About one‐third of the world's entire food production is lost or wasted every year, in which the perishables such as fruits and vegetables account for the largest proportion due to their short shelf life. Therefore, it has attracted great attention to the development of food preservation. In this paper, a simple strategy for food preservation is developed. Chitin nanofiber aqueous suspension is used as the substrate, and ferulic acid (FA) acts as the physical crosslinker to obtain a multifunctional composite protective coating for fruits. The results of Zeta potential, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) indicate that there are multiple noncovalent interactions between FA and chitin nanofibers. The chitin/FA coating films show superior mechanical properties, water and oxygen resistance. They could effectively reduce the water loss rate, delay ripening, and resist oxidation and microbial invasion for the fresh strawberries and fresh‐cut apples, indicating the potential in food preservation.

Preparation and Characterization of Ferulic Acid Wheat Gluten Nanofiber Films with Excellent Antimicrobial Properties

“…It can be clearly seen that FA0 has no inhibition function on both S. aureus and E. coli, and the sample film with a FA addition has a better inhibition function on S. aureus than E. coli. The same phenomenon also appeared in the research of Jia et al [32]. With the increase in FA loading in the sample films, the diameter of the inhibitory circle of the FA-PWG nanofiber film enhanced continuously.…”

“…The characteristic absorption peak at 3435 cm −1 is related to the O-H stretching vibration. Additionally, the characteristic absorption peaks of FA at 2969 cm −1 and 1265 cm −1 are related to the C-H stretching vibration and the C-O-C asymmetric stretching vibration [32]. The characteristic absorption peak at 1376 cm −1 is related to the aromatic nucleus in the FA molecule, and the characteristic absorption peaks at 850 cm −1 and 801 cm −1 are caused by two adjacent H atoms on the benzene ring of the FA molecule [33].…”

“…The relative concentrations of the S. aureus and E. coli suspensions after 24 h of activation were only 0.214 and 0.267 in the liquid medium added to sample film FA12. Currently, the bactericidal mechanism of FA is generally believed to be through the modification of bacterial cell membranes, changing the hydrophobicity of cell membranes and resulting in the localized rupture of bacterial cell membranes, thus providing the bactericidal effects [32,40].…”

Incorporating of Oxidized Cellulose Nanofibers@d-Limonene Pickering Emulsion into Chitosan for Fully Biobased Coatings toward Fruits Protection

“…It is widely recognized that the growth of mildew on a single fruit can quickly spread to nearby fruits, which accelerates their deterioration. The results demonstrate that CFL-2 has the superior room temperature preservation capability for strawberries to effectively improve its sensory quality, inhibit the growth of microorganisms and consumption of nutritional contents, suggesting its applicability in certain situations where maintaining low temperatures is difficult to acquire, such as transportation and outdoor retail …”

“…The results demonstrate that CFL-2 has the superior room temperature preservation capability for strawberries to effectively improve its sensory quality, inhibit the growth of microorganisms and consumption of nutritional contents, suggesting its applicability in certain situations where maintaining low temperatures is difficult to acquire, such as transportation and outdoor retail. 43 To further assess the efficacy of preservation, hardness and sweetness tests were also conducted. As shown in Figure 9d,e, the strawberries coated with CFL-2 showed significantly higher levels of both characteristics compared to the uncoated samples.…”