Description:
Food waste is a serious global issue, especially, the decay of perishable foods such as fruits and vegetables accounts for 40-50% of food waste. However, traditional preservative materials do not perform well in preventing food decay, along with health, excessive carbon emission and other environmental issues. In this study, a novel bio-based preservative coating composed of curcumin, nano-humic acid and chitosan as the conformal coating onto fruit surfaces for preserving perishable fruits is reported. This coating shows distinctive mechanical properties, antibacterial and antioxidant activities, and can be used to control the long-term release of natural preservatives onto fruit surfaces. Through the demonstration of four perishable fruits, the coating can keep freshness and appearance at least 9 days longer than the uncoated samples, confirming the universal effectiveness of the coating in preventing fruit decay. Noticeably, the coating is easy to produce and use, washable, degradable, and makes from cheap or waste renewable biomaterials, which does not cause additional health and environmental concerns. Therefore, this coating has become a promising economic alternative to traditional preservative materials, and is a green and sustainable solution to combat global food waste