Development and application of nanofibrillated cellulose coating for shelf life extension of fresh-cut vegetable during postharvest storage.

Food loss is a global concern nowadays. Fresh produce has the highest rate of loss among food products. In this study, nanocellulose suspensions were employed to coat on a perishable vegetable (spinach) for extending its shelf life during postharvest storage. Two mechanical defibrillation methods were studied to obtain a suitable preparation of nanocellulose suspension. A method of stock gel dilutions was selected since it provided longer stability of nanocellulose suspension. Then, physiological changes of spinach leaves coated with nanocellulose were measured compared with uncoated leaves. The results revealed that the coated leaves with 0.3 and 0.5% w/v nanocellulose concentrations displayed the significant retentions of appearance, chlorophyll, color, and moisture content after 3-day storage at 25 °C. Moreover, all of the coated samples exhibited the significant reduction of respiration rate in the range of 54-70%. These finding suggested that the nanocellulose coating improves the storage capacity of spinach.