Edible coating for preserving fruits (I)

• Main Author: Soh, Hui Ling
• Other Authors: Li Lin
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/61021
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Fruits are perishable commodities that play an important role in healthy living. Due to their short shelf life, the concept of edible coatings arises. There have been many research done regarding edible coatings in an attempt to lengthen the shelf life of fruits. This study looks at the effects of sodium alginate as an edible coating on honey cherry tomatoes. There are four parameters that are varied: concentration of sodium alginate solution, number of layers of coating, storage location and age of solution. From the statistical results obtained, the effects of varying the concentration of sodium alginate and age of solution proved to be limited while the effect of varying the layers is more evident only in the refrigerated condition and finally sodium alginate coatings functioned better in a cool and dry environment. Visual observations of the cherry tomatoes showed that water loss was the major factor for the decrease in quality of the fruit and sodium alginate is weak as a coating in preventing this occurrence.