Natural Gums Fortified CMC Edible Coat Application to Enhance Quality of Chilled Oreochromis niloticus Fillets

Consumers desire fresh-like, minimally processed products due to growing worries about the use of preservative in foods, such as fish. Specific requirements and preservation measures are required to reduce the activity of spoilage microorganisms. One of the novel ways for controlling these dangers during storage is to use edible coatings coated with bioactive substances.The purpose of this study is to create a bioactive edible coating from Carboxymethyle cellellose (CMC) reinforced with Arabic gum (AG), Mastic gum (MA), and Olibanum gum (OG) natural extracts, and to assess their effects on the physicochemical, microbiological, and sensory properties of chilled Nile Tilapia fish fillets (Oreochromis niloticus). Physico-chemical (TBARS, TVB-N and pH), Bacteriological (total mesophilic count, Staphylococcus aureus counts, psychrotrophic count and coliform count) as well as sensory analysis of coated groups showed a significant difference (P< 0.05) with control un-coated group. Coated groups fortified with natural gums; CMC/MG (2%), CMC/AG (2%) and CMC/OG (2%) showed the highest reduction in total mesophilic count, Staphylococcus aureus count, psychrotrophic count and coliform count. Furthermore, compared to the uncoated control samples, the rate of increase in TBARS, TVB-N and pH for all coated treatments was lower. Additionally, the coated groups showed good quality and acceptability qualities according to the sensory evaluation. In general, application of edible coating enriched with natural gums extracts improved the quality parameters of chilled Tilipia fish fillets.