Effect of Zein edible coatings on the postharvest quality of minimally processed papaya fruits fortified with ascorbic acid

Background: Fresh and minimally processed fruits and vegetables are one of the major growth segments in the food retail industry. Fresh-cut fruits are physically altered from their original state (trimmed, peeled, washed, and/or cut), but remain in a fresh state, and maintaining fresh like keeping quality is a tough task. Edible coatings are a new promising technology that helps in maintaining the quality and extending the shelf-life of minimally processed fresh-cut fruits. Objectives In the Present study various physicochemical and nutritional, sensory characteristics, microbial quality analysis, and micro-structural studies were tested on fresh-cut papaya fruits to evaluate the impact of coatings on freshness and their shelf-life progress during storage. Methods: Fresh-cut papaya cubes were coated by brushing with different concentrations of zein protein biopolymer (5% and 10%) along with ascorbic acid as a fortifying agent. Ascorbic acid (10%) was added as a fortifying external agent into the zein coating solution to improve the nutritional importance of vitamin C. All the experimental and control sample analyses were carried out in triplicates and stored at refrigerated conditions (5±1°C). The experimental data output was subjected to a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Duncan’s multiple range test and Tukey’s test for comparing the mean values between pair of samples. Differences were calculated to compare significant effects at p≤0.05 level with the use of IBM SPSS statistic version 22 software. Results: The findings of the study revealed that the results showed significant differences (P<0.05) in the overall acceptability of the zein-coated samples compared with the control sample and delayed the decline in sensory quality and extended the shelf life. The addition of ascorbic acid to the coatings helped to preserve the natural ascorbic acid content in fresh-cut papaya fruits and found retention in fruits. Conclusions: Zein coatings delayed the color change, lower weight loss, and firmness retention, maintained the carotenoids content, and inhibited the growth of microorganisms as well as showed a potential impact as commercial coatings in preserving and extending the shelf-life of minimally processed fresh-cut papaya fruits for 12 days of storage period.