Studies to Enhance the Shelf Life of Fruits Using Aloe Vera Based Herbal Coatings : A Review

Postharvest losses of fruits are a serious problem because of rapid deterioration during handling, transport and storage. Use of edible coatings over fruits is used to improve their quality and self life. These can be also safely eaten as part of the product and do not add unfavourable properties to the foodstuff. Recently there has been increased interest in using Aloe Vera gel as an edible coating material for fruits and vegetables driven by its antifungal activity. Aloe Vera gel based edible coating have been shown to prevent loss of moisture and firmness, control respiratory rate and maturation development, delay oxidative browning and reduce microorganism proliferation in fruits such as Oranges, grapes, sweet cherries and Papaya. In case of Papaya, the Aloe vera coated fruits survived the storage period of 15 days at low temperature whereas all the uncoated controls decayed within 10 days. Marketability was also found to be better for coated fruits. When studies were done of Grapes, it was found that the storability could be extended up to 35 days at 1 °C. Oranges have also been used for study and it was found that Aloe Vera coating in oranges resulted in decrease in weight loss, increase in titrability of acids and higher TSS. Thus, Aloe Vera gel is being increasingly studied as edible coating in fruits, which would be an innovative and interesting means for commercial application and an alternative to the use of postharvest chemical treatments leading to the enhancement of shelf life of fruits.