Scientists at South Korea's Chungnam National University have developed a stable compound that can be used as a protective coating for fruits and vegetables. Moreover, the coating is eco-friendly, biodegradable and can extend the shelf life of these products.

The proposed solution is a film made from a conjugate of chitosan (CS) and gallic acid (GA). And its creators claim that it is not only biodegradable, but also edible and has increased mechanical strength. The film is supposed to prevent water loss from the fruit, as well as gas exchange with the environment, which reduces the need for refrigeration or synthetic preservation.

In the current experiment, the new protective coating was applied to fruits by immersing them in the solution and then drying them. However, the researchers also envisage using spraying and releasing the material in the form of a film. But these questions, as well as the question of potential scaling of the CS-GA technology, remain for the near future.

We would like to remind you that a somewhat similar development already appeared in the news about three years ago. At that time, the Swiss company Empa developed a protective cellulose coating for vegetables and fruits from cakes. However, we did not find any data on subsequent uses and scaling of this coating, despite the interest of Lidl Switzerland in it.

Let's hope that the new solution will not end up on archive shelves, but will continue to be developed and improved.

Materials used from packaginginsights.com.