Applied Food Research 2 (2022) 100127

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Food Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/afres

Lemongrass essential oil and aloe vera gel based antimicrobial coatings for
date fruits
Shaikha Alkaabi 1,#, Bhawna Sobti 1,#, Priti Mudgil 1, Fayeza Hasan 1, Ashraf Ali 2, Akmal Nazir 1,∗
1
Department of Food Science, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, (15551), United Arab Emirates
2
Department of Physics, College of Science, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, (15551), United Arab Emirates

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: In fruit processing industry, edible coatings/films are usually applied on various fruits to provide protection
Edible coating against microorganisms and to regulate various biological functions of the fruit. The current research in this do-
aloe vera main is more focused on exploring naturally occurring bioactive materials to develop active edible coatings that
essential oil
can offer an extended functionality than just providing barrier properties. Therefore, here we report the applica-
emulsion
tion of aloe vera gel-based edible coatings, either as standalone or in combination with lemongrass essential oil
date fruit
postharvest storage to enhance the shelf life of the soft date fruit variety (as soft dates are usually more prone to spoilage). The pure
aloe vera gel coatings were aqueous mixtures of 25% aloe vera gel; whereas, nanoemulsion-based coatings of
lemongrass essential oil (1-5%) and aloe vera gel (25% aqueous mixture) were prepared through a high-pressure
homogenizer. After preliminary physicochemical characterization of the prepared coating mixtures, the date fruit
samples were dipped in coating mixtures, dried, and then stored at room temperature for 4 weeks. The analy-
ses of date fruits during the storage revealed that the applied coatings did help in retention of physicochemical
attributes (e.g., moisture, texture, and pH) and also significantly prevented microbial growth. More specifically,
the nanoemulsions based coatings of lemongrass essential oil (up to 3%) and aloe vera gel exhibited excellent
antifungal properties, which is quite remarkable as the date fruits are usually more susceptible to fungal growth
than the bacterial growth. Based on these findings, the date fruit processing industry can utilize these natural
antimicrobial coatings for the shelf life extension of date fruits.

1. Introduction fruit unfit for export or for use in the domestic market, thereby inducing
economic losses. The processing techniques that are usually practiced to
The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) can withstand harsh weather con- control spoilage of date fruit include fumigation, irradiation, ozonation,
ditions and is thereby cultivated extensively in arid and semi-arid re- and modified atmosphere packaging (Sarraf et al. 2021). However, the
gions. Being a rich source of carbohydrates, dietary fiber, vitamins, and major drawback of these processing techniques is that the antimicro-
minerals (Khalid et al. 2017), the date fruit is considered a major food bial/fumigated protective effect is nullified once the product packaging
security resource in the regions where it is cultivated. The date fruit ex- is opened placing it on a trajectory towards accelerated spoilage.
port contributes substantially to arid land economies, because of the dif- In recent times, the consumer demands high-quality food with an ex-
ficulty posed by harsh climate in practicing any other form of agriculture tended shelf life without the addition of chemical preservatives. Various
in such regions. Furthermore, besides being a good source of energy, the edible coatings and films composed of natural biomaterials are being de-
dates are also rich in bioactive compounds such as anthocyanins, phe- veloped to meet this challenge (Díaz-Montes and Castro-Muñoz, 2021;
nolics, sterols, carotenoids, and flavonoids (El-Far et al. 2019), making Miteluț et al. 2021; Paidari et al. 2021). The coatings help to re-
it a fruit of great interest to consumers and researchers alike. duce quality changes and quantity losses by decreasing respiration and
The postharvest handling and storage conditions (such as tempera- transpiration rates, preserving texture and color, controlling microbial
ture and relative humidity) greatly affect safety and quality of the date growth, and avoiding mechanical injury during postharvest handling.
fruit. Depending upon storage and packaging conditions, a variety of mi- Over the past few years, studies have been reported on the coating of
crobial flora (Piombo et al. 2020; Zamir et al. 2018) may thrive on the date fruits (Alotaibi et al. 2019; Aloui et al. 2014; El-Dein et al. 2018);
fruit resulting in its spoilage or food poisoning (if eaten). This makes the however, there is always room for further development of coating ma-
terials, for instance, through the use of natural and bioactive materials,

∗
Corresponding author
E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Nazir).
#
The authors contributed equally.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.afres.2022.100127
Received 20 December 2021; Received in revised form 3 May 2022; Accepted 12 May 2022
Available online 18 May 2022
2772-5022/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
S. Alkaabi, B. Sobti, P. Mudgil et al. Applied Food Research 2 (2022) 100127

Table 1 HR-3, TA Instruments, USA) with concentric cylinder starch cell geome-
Description of different coating mixtures used in this study. try using a gap of 100 μm. Dual-stage amplitude sweeps were performed
Coatings Composition at 25°C to characterize the viscoelastic linear region of the samples. Fre-
quency ranging from 0.01 to 10 Hz was used with the same deformation
To (control) No coating
(1%) and viscosity (Pa.s), storage modulus (G′), and loss modulus (G″)
T1 25% AVG (aqueous mixture)
T2 25% AVG + 1% LEO (nanoemulsion) were recorded.
T3 25% AVG + 3% LEO (nanoemulsion)
T4 25% AVG + 5% LEO (nanoemulsion) 2.3.2. Droplet size distribution
The emulsion-based coating mixtures (i.e., T2 , T3 , and T4 ) were ana-
or the use of an improved system for the delivery of active component. lyzed for droplet size (distribution) with a laser diffraction particle size
Therefore, the present study was planned to develop antimicrobial coat- analyzer (Mastersizer 3000, Malvern Instruments Ltd., UK). Three read-
ings for date fruit using aloe vera gel (AVG), either alone or in combi- ings were recorded from the machine and the average values of droplet
nation with lemongrass essential oil (LEO) in the form of an emulsion. size (Sauter mean diameter, d32 ) and droplet span (𝛿) were recorded, as
Aloe vera is a plant known widely for its therapeutic properties and defined by following equations:
finds multitudinous applications in pharmaceutics, cosmetics, and food ∑
𝑖=1 𝑛𝑖 𝑑𝑖
3
products (Maan et al. 2021). On the other hand, the essential oils of var- 𝑑32 = ∑ (1)
𝑖=1 𝑛𝑖 𝑑𝑖
2
ious plants (e.g., lemongrass essential oil) possess antimicrobial activity,
which has resulted in their growing popularity for developing natural 𝑑90 − 𝑑10
and active emulsion-based coatings, as evident from recently published 𝛿= (2)
𝑑50
literature (Ju et al. 2019). In the present study, the effectiveness of AVG-
based coatings and nanoemulsion-based coatings of AVG and LEO were where, di is the diameter and ni is the number of droplets in each size,
investigated on a soft date fruit variety. The coated date fruit samples and d10 , d50 , and d90 are droplet diameters corresponding to 10, 50, and
were analyzed during four weeks of storage for various physicochemical 90% volume on a cumulative droplet volume curve, respectively.
and microbial assays to determine the best coating formulation.
2.3.3. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy
2. Material and Methods FT-IR spectroscopic studies were performed in absorbance mode us-
ing FT-IR spectrometer (Perkin Elmer spectrum two, USA). The spectra
2.1. Materials of four coating mixtures (i.e., T1 , T2 , T3 , and T4 ) and of pure lemon-
grass oil was obtained between a scanning range of 400-4000 cm−1 at
The present study was conducted on fully ripened (Tamer stage) date a resolution of 4 cm−1 .
fruits (Khalas variety), which were purchased from Liwa Dates, Abu
Dhabi (UAE). The lemongrass essential oil (NOW Foods, USA) was pur- 2.3.4. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
chased from Al Ain Pharmacy (UAE). The fresh aloe vera leaves were A drop of each coating mixture was placed on a coverslip and then
collected from Al Maqam Campus of United Arab Emirates University, Al dried in a tray dryer under similar conditions as used for the date sam-
Ain (UAE). Tween 80 (polyoxyethylene-20-sorbitan monooleate), ascor- ples. Afterward, the dried layers of different coating mixtures were ex-
bic acid, and citric acid used in this study were of analytical grade, and amined in a scanning electron microscope (JSM-6010LA, JEOL, Japan)
were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (USA) via a local supplier. operated at an accelerating voltage of 15 keV. The images were col-
lected in the secondary electron imaging mode with a working distance
2.2. Preparation of aloe vera gel and coating formulations of 12 mm. The samples were coated with gold using a sputtering unit to
enhance the conductivity of the samples.
The aloe vera gel was prepared from fresh aloe vera leaves following
the procedure as described by Parven et al. (2020) after some modifi- 2.4. Application of coatings on date fruits
cations. The matured aloe vera leaves were harvested from plant and
washed with tap water. The outer cortex of leaves was removed using a The coatings were applied by dipping fruits in the coating mixture
knife to obtain an inner matrix consisting of colorless hydro parenchyma for 5 min. The wet coated samples were then air-dried using a tray-dryer
tissues. The obtained matrix was homogenized using a blender (BL23, (Armfield, United Kingdom) for 1 hr at 60°C at 1 ms−1 air velocity. Each
Kenwood, UK) and then filtered using a strainer to remove suspended treatment consisted of 5 replicates, while each replicate consisted of 5
material. Ascorbic acid (2.0 g L−1 ) and citric acid (4.5 g L−1 ) were added date fruits. The coated date fruit samples were placed in transparent zip
to gel to maintain its pH around 4 measured by a pH meter (Starter 3100, bags and stored at room temperature. The date fruit samples were ana-
OHAUS, USA). The gel was pasteurized (65°C for 30 min) in a beaker lyzed for weight loss, texture, color, pH, total bacterial count, and total
placed on a hot plate with continuous stirring, and then the gel was fungal count at 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks of storage at room temperature.
cooled immediately to 25°C.
The gel was diluted to 25% using deionized water, and different mix- 2.5. Quality characteristics of coated and uncoated date fruits during
tures of AVG and LEO were prepared as indicated in Table 1. Tween 20 storage
was added as surfactant into emulsion-based coatings mixtures (i.e., T2 ,
T3 , and T4 ) at a concentration of 1% w/v. The emulsification was car- 2.4.1. Weight loss
ried out in two stages: the mixtures were firstly homogenized using T25 The weight loss of coated and uncoated date fruit samples was de-
digital ULTRA-TURRAX® (IKA, Germany) at 5000 rpm for 3 min, and termined by weighing each sample (consisting of 5 dates) at 0, 1, 2, 3,
then homogenized using high-pressure homogenizer (APV, Germany) at and 4 weeks. All the color measurements were carried out in five repli-
1000 bar for 3 cycles. cates. Subsequently, the percent weight loss (WL) was calculated at each
storage interval as follows:
2.3. Characterization of coating mixtures ( )
𝑊𝑖 − 𝑊𝑓
WL = × 100 (3)
2.3.1. Rheology 𝑊𝑖
Rheological parameters (complex viscosity, storage modulus, and where Wi and Wf are initial and final weights of date fruit samples be-
loss modulus) were measured in triplicate using a rheometer (Discovery tween two consecutive time intervals.

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S. Alkaabi, B. Sobti, P. Mudgil et al. Applied Food Research 2 (2022) 100127

Fig. 1. Viscosity of different coating mixtures:

( ) T1 , ( ) T2 , ( ) T3 , and ( ) T4 .

2.4.2. Color measurements The plates were then incubated at 37°C for 48 h for enumeration of bac-
The color measurements for different treatments of date fruits were terial counts, while for yeast and mold count plates were incubated at
carried out using a colorimeter (HunterLab, Reston, VA, USA). The mea- 25°C for 5 days. The colonies developed on media were counted using
surements were performed in triplicate, and then the average values a digital colony counter (Scan®1200, INTERSCIENCE, France).
of color coordinates, i.e., 𝐿∗ (lightness), 𝑎∗ (redness or greenness) and
𝑏∗ (blueness or yellowness), were calculated. Furthermore, the overall
2.5. Statistical analysis
color change (Δ𝐸) was calculated as follows:
√
[ ]2 [ ]2 [ ]2 The obtained data for different physicochemical properties were sub-
Δ𝐸 = 𝐿∗𝑜 − 𝐿∗ + 𝑎∗𝑜 − 𝑎∗ + 𝑏∗𝑜 − 𝑏∗ (4)
jected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) to analyze the significance of
where, 𝐿∗𝑜 , 𝑎∗𝑜 , and 𝑏∗𝑜 are values of color parameters of untreated dates, storage, while the mean comparison was performed by least significant
while 𝐿∗ , 𝑎∗ , and 𝑏∗ are the values at time 𝑡. difference (LSD). The differences were considered significant at p<0.05.
The statistical analysis was carried out in Statistix 8 (Analytical Soft-
2.4.3. Instrumental texture profile analysis (TPA) ware, Florida, USA). Moreover, the mean and the standard deviation
The texture profile analysis of coated and uncoated date fruit sam- (SD) of each data set were estimated through built-in functions of Mi-
ples was carried out through a texture profile analyzer (TA-XT2i, Stable crosoft Excel 2019 (Microsoft, USA).
Microsystems, Surrey, UK) by using the method reported by Kamal-Eldin
et al. (2020). A pitted date was divided into two halves, one side was
placed over another and placed carefully at the center of TPA instru- 3. Results and Discussion
ment’s platform. It was then pressed under a flat surface metal cylin-
der until it was a flat slab. All operations were automatically controlled 3.1. Characterization of coating formulations
by the texture analyzer, and the following attributes were determined:
hardness, adhesiveness, cohesiveness, and gumminess. Due to a large The study of rheological properties of coating mixtures is important
variation in the textural parameters, all the texture measurements were as it can have a significant impact on different aspects such as prepa-
performed in ten replicates. ration, applications, and retention of coating mixtures on food surface
(Sharifimehr et al. 2019). These factors are considerably influenced by
2.4.4. pH measurements the composition of the mixtures and also by the unit operations car-
The date fruit samples (each consisting of 25 g of pitted dates) drawn ried out during preparation of coating mixtures, e.g., heating, homog-
at each storage interval were mixed with 100 mL of distilled water in enization, etc. As shown in Fig. 1, the coating formulation with AVG
a small food mincer and then filtered through a paper filter. The pH of alone has highest viscosity, and the addition of LEO resulted in a de-
the filtrate was then measured in triplicate using a pH meter (Mettler- crease in viscosity, especially at small deformations. This could be due
Toledo, Switzerland). to lubrication provided by non-interacting nano-sized oil droplets, i.e.,
nanoemulsions usually have low viscosities (Lawrence and Rees, 2000;
2.4.5. Microbiological analyses Solans et al. 2005). However, there was a non-significant difference in
Microbiological analyses for total bacterial count, and total yeast and viscosities of mixtures containing different LEO concentrations (i.e., T2 ,
mold count were carried out weekly in triplicate for each treatment us- T3 , and T4 ). The results related to viscoelastic properties, i.e., storage
ing methods as described by ISO:4833 (2003) and ISO:7954 (1987) stan- (G′) and loss (G″) moduli, are shown in Fig. 2. For all coating mixtures,
dards, respectively. Briefly, 10 g of each sample was mixed with 90 mL the value for G′ was higher than G″, which shows that all the mixtures
of sterile peptone water, and samples were homogenized using stom- behave more like a gel. As all the coating formulations had AVG as
acher at 200 rpm for 10 minutes (Seward Stomacher® 400, UK). Tenfold a major component (i.e., LEO concentration was very low in the case
serial dilutions of each sample were then made by mixing with sterile of emulsion-based coatings), so similar viscoelastic properties were ob-
peptone water using a vortex mixer. Appropriate dilutions were plated served for all mixtures (i.e., T1 - T4 ).
with their designated media, i.e., plate count agar (PCA) for total bac- FT-IR spectroscopy was used to study the interaction between AVG
terial count, and potato dextrose agar (PDA) for yeast and mold count. and LEO or possible degradation during processing. The spectra of the

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S. Alkaabi, B. Sobti, P. Mudgil et al. Applied Food Research 2 (2022) 100127

Fig. 2. Storage and loss moduli of different coating mixtures: ( ) T1 , ( ) T2 , ( ) T3 , and ( ) T4 .

Fig. 3. FT-IR spectra of different coating mixtures and

of pure lemongrass essential oil (LEO).

pure AVG, pure LEO, and emulsion samples containing AVG with differ- The thin layer of each coating mixture, which was obtained after
ent concentrations of LEO are presented in Fig 3. The spectrum of pure drying of a single drop on a glass coverslip, was nearly transparent and
LEO showed a band of 3348 cm−1 which is attributed to -OH bonds while glossy. Furthermore, there were no visible cracks on dried coating lay-
the band at 1644 cm−1 is assigned to the C=O stretching. The band at ers, mainly due to a mucilaginous continuous phase. The surface mor-
1320 cm−1 is due to CH3 wagging (Kyung 2016) and the band at 832 phology was analyzed using a scanning electron microscope, and the
cm−1 corresponds to C-O group. From the comparison of the FT-IR spec- emulsion-based coating mixture with 3% LEO (T3 ) was chosen as a rep-
tra it can be observed that the emulsion samples are similar to the pure resentative sample for all emulsion-based coating mixtures. It can be
AVG, instead of LEO. This is mainly due to a minor concentration of seen in Fig. 5 that small droplets of LEO are well blended with the fi-
LEO in emulsions, and therefore, all the coating mixtures (i.e., T1 - T4 ) brous material present in AVG, making it a smooth and homogenous
presented similar FT-IR spectra. nanoemulsion.
The emulsions with a droplet size of less than 100 nm are typically
defined as nanoemulsions (McClements, 2011; Solans et al. 2005). In the 3.2. Effect of different coatings on physicochemical properties of date fruits
presence of a suitable surfactant, the nanoemulsions can remain stable
for an extended period. Moreover, the use of nanoemulsions in edible 3.2.1. Weight loss
coating applications is quite advantageous as they can uniformly deliver The moisture content is a vital quality parameter for fresh commodi-
a minute quantity of active agents, like essential oils (Maan et al. 2021). ties like fruits and vegetables. The excessive water loss in soft date fruit
The droplet size distributions of the emulsion-based coating mixtures varieties would result in hardening and undesirable textural properties
that were prepared in this study are shown in Fig. 4. The Sauter mean (Rahman and Al-Farsi, 2005). Furthermore, the weight loss may have
diameter for all the emulsion samples was in the range of 45-46 nm economic implications for the producers. In the present study, a minor
depending on the oil concentration. A unimodal distribution was ob- weight loss was observed during the first two weeks of storage (Fig. 6).
tained for all samples, which shows that Tween 80 surfactant provided Moreover, the effect of different treatments on weight loss was non-
sufficient stabilization during the homogenization step. Tween 80 is a significant during this storage period. After this duration, the control
low-molecular weight amphiphilic surfactant, i.e., it contains both hy- sample showed the highest weight loss (∼0.2%) compared to any of the
drophobic as well as hydrophilic groups. A low-molecular weight en- coated date samples (∼ 0.1%).
sures rapid adsorption of this surfactant at the oil-water interface in a In previously conducted studies on date fruit, there exists a
way that the hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups will be directed to- huge variation in the reported weight loss values. For instance, El-
wards oil and water phases, respectively ensuring good stability of the Dein et al. (2018) reported a weight loss of 23.9% or 24.2% in dates
emulsion structure. that were coated with polyvinyl alcohol or chitosan, whereas the con-

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S. Alkaabi, B. Sobti, P. Mudgil et al. Applied Food Research 2 (2022) 100127

Fig. 4. Particle size analysis of emulsion based coating

mixtures.

Fig. 5. Microstructure of T3 (3% LEO + 25% AVG) emulsion based coating by scanning electron microscopy.

Fig. 6. Weight loss of coated and uncoated date fruits

during storage: ( ) To , ( ) T1 , ( ) T2 , ( ) T3 , and
( ) T4 .

trol sample experienced a weight loss of 34.22%. The date samples in 3.15% or 2.7%, respectively. Likewise, the weight loss for date sam-
this study were stored in carton boxes at 12°C for 28 days at 98% rela- ples stored in controlled atmospheric storage and treated with salicylic
tive humidity (RH). In another study, Atia et al. (2020) applied salicylic acid or calcium chloride was 1.33% or 2.01%, respectively. In a study
acid or calcium chloride on Barhi dates and then stored treated samples conducted by Elwahab et al. (2019), a weight loss of 1.8%, 1.9%, or
either in cold storage (0°C, 80% RA, 40 days) or controlled atmosphere 1.6% was found for aloe vera gel, chitosan, or aloe vera gel-chitosan
storage (0°C, 80% RA, 5% O2 , 5% CO2 , 120 days). The weight loss for coated Barhi date fruits, respectively, stored at 0°C in carton boxes for
control sample was 3.37% and 2.14% for cold storage and controlled at- 30 days; whereas the control/uncoated fruits suffered a weight loss of
mosphere storage, respectively. The weight loss for date samples stored 5.3%. In another study, Mejdool and Barhi dates upon being given six
in cold storage and treated with salicylic acid or calcium chloride was different edible coating treatments and stored in carton boxes at 0°C and

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Fig. 7. Color parameters of coated and uncoated date fruits during storage: ( ) To , ( ) T1 , ( ) T2 , ( ) T3 , and ( ) T4 .

70-75% RH, experienced a weight loss from 3.10-4.24%, based on the was mainly because the unripe dates (Khalal stage) were used in those
type of treatment (Abdel Baky et al. 2020). Hence, these studies show studies, i.e., the darkening of the color was due to the natural ripen-
that the weight loss is a function of several other factors, e.g., storage ing process (i.e., the color change due to any visible spoilage was not
temperature, relative humidity, packaging type, date fruit variety, treat- reported, primarily due to a rather short storage duration).
ment type, etc. Compared to these studies, the overall weight loss in our
study was very low which could be accounted to the packaging type. 3.2.3. Texture
Nevertheless, the coated samples did help in decreasing weight loss as The texture is another key characteristic that is usually linked to
compared to the control. freshness and quality of the fruits. The fruit texture can be influenced
by several factors such as moisture content and other chemical com-
3.2.2. Color ponents (Ismail et al. 2006; Rahman and Al-Farsi, 2005), and also by
The color is an important parameter for consumer acceptability of development/ripening stage (Li et al. 2010). The results of the texture
foods in general. In case of fruits and vegetables, the color is a visi- study showed that hardness of the control sample increased significantly
ble indicator of freshness, wholesomeness, and maturity. The fruits and during the storage period (Fig. 8). This could be due to the moisture
vegetables generally retain their natural color after application of edible loss observed in the form of weight loss of the control sample. On a
coatings, i.e., a color change due to coatings is usually less required. In similar note, treated date samples did not show a significant increase in
the present study, the surface color of coated and uncoated dates was hardness which could be explained by their ability to retain moisture
examined at the specified storage intervals, and the obtained data for within their coatings. Earlier, Rahman and Al-Farsi (2005) reported an
different color parameters were analyzed to determine the effect. Fig. 7 exponential increase in date fruit hardness due to a decrease in mois-
indicates that there is no significant effect for all the color parameters as ture content. Therefore, the change in date fruit hardness in the present
a function of treatment or storage. As it is a little complicated to make a study can be associated to a change in moisture content during storage.
conclusion about overall color change with individual color parameters However, in a study conducted by Aloui et al. (2014), the sensory hard-
(i.e., L∗ , a∗ , and b∗ ), therefore, the color change (ΔE) was calculated us- ness of date fruit (on which different edible films were applied) was a
ing Eq. 4 (based on observed values of all individual color parameters). little higher (i.e., 4.2-5.6) than the control (i.e., 4.1) after storage of 12
The results of ΔE are plotted in Fig. 7, which shows that at week zero days at 25°C and 90% RH. The date fruits used in this study were of De-
(i.e., right after coating application), a similar ΔE value was found for all glet Nour variety at Rutab stage (i.e., a half-ripened stage). The possible
the coated samples as compared to the uncoated sample (i.e., control). justification for a little higher hardness of the coated date fruit could be
But for remaining storage, there was no regular trend for color change as because of the interference of the edible film components with the natu-
a function of either treatment or storage. The initial change in color due ral ripening process (as the dates of Rutab stage are harder than those of
to coating application can be explained by a change in optical properties Khalal stage) or because of the mechanical properties of the film layer
such as gloss, reflection, etc. However, as all the coating materials had itself. However, as in the present study, the dates were already in the
almost similar compositions (i.e., the major component was 25% AVG Tamer stage (fully ripened); therefore, the application of edible coatings
in aqueous solution), therefore, all the freshly coated dates had identical (either AVG alone or in combination with LEO) was found effective in
color. Furthermore, as the dates used in the present study were already maintaining the hardness of the dates.
matured, the color change due to various physiological, biochemical and The other texture attributes that were tested in this study are ad-
developmental changes (Paul & Pandey, 2014) was negligible, which is hesiveness, cohesiveness, and gumminess. The sensory attribute of ad-
also in agreement with the obtained data. However, in various earlier hesiveness refers to the strength with which a sample adheres to the
investigations related to edible coatings or application of different treat- teeth after a first compression withdrawal, while the term cohesiveness
ments on date fruit (Atia et al. 2020; Mehyar et al. 2014), a significant refers to the ability of the fruit to regain its original shape after the
decrease in L∗ parameter (i.e., darkening of color) was reported. This first compression (Mousavi et al. 2019; Nishinari et al. 2019). Accord-

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Fig. 8. Texture parameters of coated and uncoated date fruits during storage: ( ) To , ( ) T1 , ( ) T2 , ( ) T3 , and ( ) T4 .

Fig. 9. Change in pH in coated and uncoated

date fruits during storage: ( ) To , ( ) T1 ,
( ) T2 , ( ) T3 , and ( ) T4 .

ing to observations of this study, the treatments did not have any sig- study, pH of fresh date fruits was between 5.3-5.7, i.e., a default vari-
nificant effect on both adhesiveness, and cohesiveness (Fig. 8). This is a ation between different samples. However, a non-significant change in
quite interesting finding as the coatings seem quite capable of prevent- pH was observed during storage for control as well as for coated date
ing weight loss without any compromise on the sensory attributes of the fruit samples (Fig. 9). In previously conducted studies on dates, a de-
fruit in terms of hardness, adhesiveness and cohesiveness. A consumer crease in pH during storage was usually reported. The production of or-
eating a coated date fruit is thereby expected to not find any significant ganic acids during a fermentative activity of different microorganisms
difference in fruit texture when compared to uncoated date fruit. is believed for lowering of the pH (Jemni et al. 2016; Radi et al. 2017).
The sensory attribute gumminess can be described as the energy re- However, various intrinsic factors (such as initial pH, composition, and
quired to disintegrate a semisolid food to a state ready for swallowing microbial flora of the date fruit) and extrinsic factors (mainly the stor-
(Mousavi et al. 2019; Nishinari et al. 2019). As presented in Fig. 8, the age conditions and duration) influence the pH of the date fruit, e.g., as
gumminess of control samples was consistently higher than the coated established by Akhavan et al. (2021). In our study, pH of fresh date fruit
samples after the end of storage. This could be due to the higher amount samples was already on the acidic side; however, a further decline was
of weight loss/moisture loss observed in the control samples, as also re- not observed, most likely due to the absence of sufficient fermentative
ported by Ansari et al. (2014) for fig fruit. byproducts (i.e., organic acids) during storage.

3.2.4. pH 3.2.5. Microbial analyses

The change in pH of fruits during storage is often used as an indi- The soft date fruit varieties, like the one used in this study, are usu-
cator of deteriorative changes in fruits (Gil et al. 2006). In the present ally more prone to microbial spoilage due to moderate moisture content

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S. Alkaabi, B. Sobti, P. Mudgil et al. Applied Food Research 2 (2022) 100127

Fig. 10. Total bacterial count (TBC) and total fungus count (TFC) in coated and uncoated date fruits during storage: ( ) To , ( ) T1 , ( ) T2 , ( ) T3 , and ( ) T4 .

and a good nutritional profile (Akhavan et al. 2021). Therefore, micro- Declaration of competing interest
bial analyses are much important to ensure food safety of the fruit. In
the present study, total bacterial and total fungal counts in different The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
date fruit samples were determined at specified storage intervals. The interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
obtained results of microbial analyses are presented in Fig. 10, which the work reported in this paper.
shows a strong antimicrobial potential of applied coatings, especially
of emulsion-based coatings. For instance, on day 0 of storage, the bac- CRediT authorship contribution statement
terial colonies were not seen in 3% and 5% LEO-based nanoemulsion
treatments (i.e., T3 and T4 ), indicating a strong bactericidal potential. Shaikha Alkaabi: Investigation, Writing – original draft. Bhawna
However, the microbial load for T1 and T2 remained nearly similar to Sobti: Investigation, Writing – review & editing. Priti Mudgil: Investi-
untreated control To (3-4 log CFU/mL). Overall, the total bacterial load gation, Writing – review & editing. Fayeza Hasan: Writing – review &
for untreated control samples remained nearly constant during storage editing. Ashraf Ali: Investigation, Writing – review & editing. Akmal
and could be attributed to the fact that higher sugar content and low Nazir: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Resources,
water activity synergistically prevented the growth of bacteria. Never- Writing – review & editing, Visualization.
theless, the emulsion-based coatings (especially at 3 and 5% LEO con- References
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