## 3 Edible Coatings and Their Suitability for Fruit and Vegetables
### The Rationale Behind Using Coatings
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline
**Coating Substance** & **Coating Excipient** & **Product** & **Effect** & **Reference** \\ \hline Gum arabic powder & & Ponkan orange & Reduce postharvest decay and maintain the nutritional quality and reduce oxidative damage. & [70] \\ \hline Gum arabic & & & Retaining or delaying fruit quality parameters including fruit firmness, TSS, decay, TAC, TPC, color, pH, PPO activity, and antioxidant activity and weight loss. & [71] \\ \hline Chickpea starch & & Green papaya “Sekaki” & Coating reduced weight loss, provide better firmness and extend the shelf life up to 12 days at refrigated condition. & [72] \\ \hline Xantham gum & Citric acid & lotus root (_N. nucifera_) & Coarse reduced weight loss, provide better firmness and extend the shelf life up to 12 days at refrigated condition. & [73] \\ \hline Persian gum, & & & Spray-coated fresh-cut lotus root samples had significant reduction in the total color changes as compared to non-coated samples. Decrease the enzymatic browning of fresh-cut lotus root during storage. & [74] \\ \hline Honey & & Persimmon & Delay of gelling, loss of aroma and firmness. & [75] \\ \hline Whey Protein Isolate (WPI) & Transglutaminase (Tgase), sunflower oil & Apples Yantai Fuji & Reduction of browning by 46.39\% compared to controls (Browning Index). & [6] \\ \hline Whey protein isolate (WPI) & Lemon essential oil & Pear Conference (fresh-cut) & Reduction of evaporation and permeation of oxygen and carbon dioxide, reduction of borozing. Slight change in fruit flavor. & [41] \\ \hline Pea protein & Sorbitol, candelia wax & Grape & Reduction of loss of weight, ascorbic acid and sugars during storage in relation to the control. & [76] \\ \hline Gelatin & _Aloe vera_ extract & & The addition of extracts significantly contributed to color preservation, weight loss, and microbiological quality preservation. & [77] \\ \hline Gelatin & _Aloe vera_ extract & Apple (sliced) & Extension of storage and preservation of organoleptic properties. Reduction of bacteria content compared to control. & [78] \\ \hline Aqueous ethanol & Cinnamon bark extract 2\% & Apples Idared (sliced) & Significant reduction in the growth of _E. coli_ and _L. innocua_ bacteria. & [44] \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: _Cont._Apart from the undoubted advantages of edible coatings, their use may also cause certain risks, including off-flavour (limited oxygen exchange), increased disorders associated with high CO\({}_{2}\) or low O\({}_{2}\) concentration (modification of internal atmospheres) aerobic respiration and disturbed proper ripening process (edible coatings have good gas barrier properties) and increased microbial growth (some edible coatings are hygroscopic) [20; 35; 79]. The application of edible coatings/films has a similar effect on storage under a modified atmosphere (MA). However, in many cases, the applied coating is not able to modify the internal atmosphere sufficiently to produce the desired preserving effect. Therefore, in such cases, it is recommended to also use appropriate packaging [50].