Abstract
Green bell pepper is of special importance for Mexico as it is the world’s second leading producer of this crop; thus, fruit preservation using natural products is of particular interest. In this work, three nanocoatings were prepared using the nanoprecipitation method, one based on chitosan nanoparticles (CSNP), another on thyme essential oil encapsulated in chitosan nanoparticles (CSTEO-NP), and the third on aqueous extract of propolis encapsulated in chitosan nanoparticles (CSEP-NP). The nanoparticles were characterized and the effect of the coatings on postharvest quality, nutritional value and antimicrobial activity was assessed. CSNP size in solution was lower than 10 nm as observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with a bimodal distribution for CSNP and CSTEO-NP and unimodal for CSEP-NP with some agglomerates as measured by dynamic light scattering (DLS). With respect to the postharvest quality of green bell pepper, weight loss and color change increased over storage time as well as ascorbic acid; firmness and carotenoids content decreased. The highest disease incidence of Alternaria alternata was in bell peppers coated with CSEP-NP (34%). Under cold conditions on day 12, the lowest value of colony-forming units (CFUs) for bacteria was 25 CFU in bell peppers coated with CSNP, and for fungi and yeast, with the coating based on CSTEO-NP (38 CFU). Chitosan-based nanocoatings added with bioactive agents could represent a good alternative for green bell pepper preservation.
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Data Availability
The data presented in this study are available by request from the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the National Council of Science and Technology for its support, and Dr. Nicolás Cayetano Castro from the Center for Nanoscience and Micro and Nanotechnologies for the TEM micrographs. Thanks also go to Dr. Eduardo San Martín from CICATA-Legaria for the DLS measurements.
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Zormy Nacary Correa-Pacheco: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing. Silvia Bautista-Baños: visualization, conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing. María Luisa Corona-Rangel: conceptualization, software, validation, data curation, formal analysis, investigation. Rosa Isela Ventura-Aguilar: supervision, conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing—review and editing. Laura Leticia Barrera-Necha: supervision, conceptualization, methodology. Katia Daniela Cueva-Gómez: data curation, methodology.
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Correa-Pacheco, Z.N., Bautista-Baños, S., Corona-Rangel, M.L. et al. Effect of Chitosan-Based Natural Products Nanocoatings on Green Bell Peppers During Storage. Food Bioprocess Technol 16, 1703–1715 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-023-03022-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-023-03022-3