Probiotics in edible coatings: Approaches to food security and fruits disease management

Abstract In the recent past edible films and coatings have been extensively used as an alternative packaging system over conventional systems to enhance shelf life, fruit quality, and antagonistic properties against phytopathogens. The coatings are composed of various materials including polysaccharides, lipids, and proteins along with some other additives, which provide mechanical support from tearing and also act as a semipermeable barrier for O2, CO2, ethylene, other gases, and liquids. Incorporation of probiotics in the edible coating provides some extra beneficial effects in terms of addition of bioactive or antimicrobial properties, fragrance, coloring agents to the fresh produce, and also enhances the shelf life of food products via inhibiting growth of phytopathogens during storage times. In the recent past various bacterial and yeast probiotics have been applied to reduce the pathogen load from fruit surfaces in postharvest storage or to enhance the shelf life or food quality of the fresh produce.