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Effect of edible coatings on quality parameters and phenol composition of ready-to-eat Salanova lettuce

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Abstract

Minimally processed fresh-cut leafy vegetables are becoming one of the fastest growing segments in the food industry. In this context, new strategies to extend the preservation, such as the application of edible coatings, represent a key issue for the research community. In this study, the effects of emulsion-based edible coatings on the quality parameters of ready-to-eat Salanova lettuce were investigated. The coatings, sprayed on the fresh-cut lettuce, were composed of lemongrass essential oil (0.1%) dispersed in different polymers, such as alginate (ALG), chia mucilage (CM) and chitosan (CHIT). After storage at 4 °C for 14 days, the coatings showed similar performance in terms of visual appearance and water loss. Instead, by means of the spectroscopic and HPLC analyses, the ALG coating resulted the most effective in preserving bioactive pigments (chlorophyll and carotenoids) and the phenolic compounds. Specifically, with respect to the initial content of hydroxycinnamic compounds (2.53 mg/g chlorogenic acid equivalents), their depletion was estimated to be 27%, 62%, 79% and 84% in the ALG, CTRL, CM, CHIT samples, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

This paper was supported the project Profood IV, CUP: B64E20000180005, ARS01_00755 and partially supported by CSGI (Centre for Colloid and Surface Science).

Funding

This research was funded by MIPAAF 2015–2020, project Profood IV, CUP: B64E20000180005, ARS01_00755.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences (DiAAA), University of Molise, Via De Sanctis, 86100, Campobasso, Italy

    Martina Cofelice, Ayesha Iftikhar, Francesco Lopez & Antonella De Leonardis

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  1. Martina Cofelice
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  2. Ayesha Iftikhar
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  3. Francesco Lopez
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  4. Antonella De Leonardis
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Contributions

MC: methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, original draft preparation, writing—review and editing, and visualization. AI: software, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, and writing—review editing. FL: conceptualization, resources, original draft preparation, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition. ADL: conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, original draft preparation, writing—review and editing, visualization, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Antonella De Leonardis.

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Cofelice, M., Iftikhar, A., Lopez, F. et al. Effect of edible coatings on quality parameters and phenol composition of ready-to-eat Salanova lettuce. Eur Food Res Technol 250, 691–700 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-023-04425-4

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