School of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Care Sciences, Universidad San Sebastián, Concepción 4080871, Chile.
Agro-Food and Applied Nutrition Research Center, Adventist University of Chile, Chillan 3780000, Chile.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Sep 28;24(19):14681. doi: 10.3390/ijms241914681.
Strawberries are a rich source of vitamins and antioxidants, among other nutrients, but they are highly susceptible to mechanical injuries, dehydration, and microbial spoilage, and thus have a limited post-harvest shelf-life. Bioactive edible coatings have been studied to decrease or prevent these damages. In this study, ethanolic extracts of Arrayan (), a traditional berry from the south of Chile, were used to enrich a chitosan-based edible film and coat fresh strawberries. A long-term storage (10 °C) study was conducted to determine the strawberries' weight loss, microbial stability, fruit firmness impact, and antioxidant activity. Later, a sensory panel was conducted to determine overall consumer acceptance. Our results show that the bioactive coating inhibited the growth of different pathogenic bacteria and spoilage yeast. In the stored strawberries, the weight loss was significantly lower when the bioactive coating was applied, and the samples' firmness did not change significantly over time. Microbial growth in the treated strawberries was also lower than in the control ones. As expected, the antioxidant activity in the coated strawberries was higher because of the Arrayan extract, which has high antioxidant activity. Regarding sensory qualities, the covered strawberries did not show significant differences from the uncoated samples, with an overall acceptance of 7.64 on a 9-point scale. To our knowledge, this is the first time an edible coating enriched with Arrayan extracts has been reported as able to prevent strawberries' decay and spoilage.
草莓富含维生素和抗氧化剂等营养物质，但它们很容易受到机械损伤、脱水和微生物腐烂的影响，因此收获后的保质期有限。生物活性可食用涂层已被研究用于减少或预防这些损伤。在这项研究中，智利南部传统浆果 Arrayan 的乙醇提取物被用于丰富壳聚糖基可食用膜并涂覆新鲜草莓。进行了长期储存（10°C）研究，以确定草莓的失重、微生物稳定性、果实硬度影响和抗氧化活性。之后，进行了感官小组评估以确定整体消费者接受度。我们的结果表明，生物活性涂层抑制了不同致病菌和腐败酵母的生长。在储存的草莓中，当应用生物活性涂层时，失重明显较低，并且随着时间的推移，样品的硬度没有明显变化。处理过的草莓中的微生物生长也低于对照样品。正如预期的那样，由于 Arrayan 提取物具有高抗氧化活性，因此涂层草莓中的抗氧化活性更高。关于感官品质，覆盖有涂层的草莓与未涂层的样本没有显著差异，总体接受度为 9 分制的 7.64 分。据我们所知，这是首次报道用富含 Arrayan 提取物的可食用涂层来防止草莓腐烂和变质。
