Revestimento comestível com carvacrol: tecnologia de conservação pós-colheita de fruto

Abstract

Edible coatings are one of the promising alternatives for the post-harvest conservation of fruits and vegetables, and can be incorporated with the natural antimicrobial carvacrol and thus inhibit fungal development and prolong the shelf life of the product. Previous studies have tested the antifungal ability of an edible cassava starch/gelatin-based coating with nanoencapsulated carvacrol in strawberry. In these studies, this fruit was chosen because it is highly perishable, has a short post-harvest life, and is difficult to market. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of active coating on the conservation of strawberries during storage and its sensory impact. Edible coatings (0.0 mg carvacrol g -1 coating solution, 0.3 mg carvacrol g -1 coating solution and 0.6 mg carvacrol g -1 coating solution) were applied to the strawberries, and the physicochemical parameters (color, mass loss, moisture, firmness, pH, acidity and total soluble solids), microbiological (mold and yeast) and incidence of decay during 16 days of storage under refrigeration were quantified. Subsequently, sensory analysis was carried out on the fourth day of storage under refrigeration of coated and uncoated strawberries using the Profile Flash method. The 0.3 mg carvacrol g -1 coating solution and 0.6 mg carvacrol g -1 coating solution coatings proved to be efficient in reducing the growth of molds and yeasts, as well as in the occurrence of rots, at least until the 12th day of storage, the treatments influenced the parameters of total soluble solids where it was possible to control the reduction, the acidity values did not suffer great variations and thus keeping the pH values lower storage periods. The results were also satisfactory in relation to the color of the fruit, where they had the ability to maintain the reddish color for a longer time. There was no significant difference between treatments and during storage for weight loss, firmness and moisture. As for the sensory analysis, the coatings with carvacrol resulted in a change in flavor and odor, with a distance from acceptance, the coated fruits were characterized mainly with residual flavor and oregano odor. However, regarding the visual attribute, the active edible coatings resulted in a uniformity of the samples in the storage period. In fact, it is concluded that carcavrol had the ability to assist in the storage of strawberries, but directly interfering with the attributes.