ABSTRACT
Edible coating provides partial barrier to moisture and gas, especially carbon dioxide and oxygen exchange. Coating on the surface of vegetables improves mechanical handling properties. The shelf life of shellac-coated capsicum is increased to 30-35 days at refrigerated storage temperature of 10°C as against 5-6 days of fully control capsicum during refrigerated storage. Beeswax is also known as white wax secreted by honey bees for comb building. The wax is harvested by centrifuging honey from wax combs and then melted with hot water, solar drying. Candelilla wax, an exudate of the Candelilla plant is a red-like plant that grows mostly in Mexico and southern Texas. Shellac resin, mostly produced in central India, is a secretion by the insect Lacifer lacca. This resin is composed of a complex mixture of aliphatic alicyclic hydroxy acid polymers, such as aleuritic and shelloic acids. Carboxy methyl cellulose as thickener is added for effective and stable coating on the surface of fruits and vegetables.
