Agriculture & Food, Volume 9, 2021

Rezumat: Minimally processed carrots are an important segment in the food retail industry. Carrots are rich in bioactive compounds like polyphenols and other compounds having health promoting properties. Also, the shift of modern-day consumer towards fresh, minimally processed, conveniently prepared food is making freshly cut carrots more and more popular. But their highly perishable nature and leaching of nutrients entails good packaging which can also positively affect the appearance. Edible packaging could be a good solution for this problem, compared to traditional packaging materials. They are a continuous thin layer (≤ 0.6 mm) based primarily on hydrocolloids (proteins, carbohydrates, fats). Edible packaging as the name suggests, can be consumed with the food on which they are applied. They act as a barrier against water, gaseous and solute transfer and provide mechanical strength to the food product. To encounter the problems of environmental pollution and sustainable development created by presently used plastic packaging obtained from non-biodegradable resources, more emphasis is given to edible packaging. Moreover, edible packaging support circular economy. The present research work discusses the effect of edible coatings made of gelatin, citric acid and glycerin. Two different concentrations of gelatin, 8% and 10% were used and their effect was seen on carrots against the control samples (carrot samples having no coating). The concentration of glycerin was 2% and ascorbic acid was 1% in both the coating solutions. Carrots were sliced having 7 mm thickness. Coating was applied using the dipping method. The control and coated samples were stored in ambient conditions. Total polyphenol content, Percent loss in weight, color values, textural analysis of sliced carrots were recorded for 5 days.