Effect of chitosan and acetic acid on postharvest storage of table grapes

Abstract

All fruits suffer quality loss from the time of harvest to their consumption. The use of chitosan as edible coating has been considered as an alternative postharvest treatment with good results in table grape. Considering that coatings based in this biopolymer are prepared in acetic acid solution, it was intended to assess whether the application of the acetic acid has an influence on the physicochemical characteristics of table grapes during their conservation period at 1º C and 95% RH.

From the present study, it is concluded that the acetic acid alone has a worse performance than the control mode. However, no negative interference of the acetic acid was found in the chitosan solution. The postharvest conservation of table grapes may be easily achieved even after 14 days of cold storage with the use of a chitosan-based edible coating at a concentration of 0.8 %.