Improving Shelf-life of Cavendish Banana Using Chitosan Edible Coating

Chitosan has been widely used as an edible coating for extending the shelf life of fruit. In this research, chitosan was applied to Cavendish banana. The effect of different degree of deacetylation (DD) of chitosan (70%, 80%) in various chitosan concentration (1, 1.5, 2% w/w) in solution on weight loss and vitamin C loss were investigated. The effect of the presence of emulsifier triethanolamine (TEA) was also examined. Sensory analyses were conducted to monitor the changes in color, texture, and aroma. The results showed that coated banana fruit demonstrated delayed ripening processes compared to the uncoated banana. This also confirmed by the reduction in weight loss as well as in vitamin C loss in comparison to the uncoated banana. Weight loss and vitamin C loss decreased with increasing chitosan concentration and degree of deacetylation of chitosan. The addition of TEA emulsifier was not significantly influence the weight loss and vitamin C loss. In summary, 2% (w/w) chitosan with DD of 80% was proved to be the most suitable coating among the others for reducing the weight loss and vitamin C loss. loss, and desirable sensory analysis.