Nanosystems in Edible Coatings: A Novel Strategy for Food Preservation.

Currently, nanotechnology represents an important tool and an efficient option for extending the shelf life of foods. Reducing particle size to nanometric scale gives materials distinct and improved properties compared to larger systems. For food applications, this technology allows the incorporation of hydrophilic and lipophilic substances with antimicrobial and antioxidant properties that can be released during storage periods to increase the shelf life of diverse products, including whole and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, and cheese, among others.

Physicochemical, total phenols and pectin methylesterase changes on quality maintenance on guava fruit (Psidium guajava L.) coated with candeuba wax solid lipid nanoparticles-xanthan gum.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the application of candeuba wax solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) and xanthan gum (XG) as coatings on guava, and their effect on the fruit's physicochemical and nutritional parameters, complementing a previous publication carried out by Zambrano-Zaragoza et al. (2013). The concentrations of SLN were selected according to those reported as the most (65g/L) and least (75g/L) efficient in post-harvest life preservation, and were compared to a coating of XG and untreated control samples.