ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a general overview of the quality features of fruits and vegetables, as well as edible films and coatings. Edible films and coatings have increased food applications in the food industry due to the wide range of mechanical and barrier properties that they show and their use for solving several problems in the storage and transport of fresh produce. The performance of edible films and coatings is strongly dependent on their mechanical and barrier properties. Edible films and coatings from carbohydrates have shown an improvement in the quality and stability of meat during storage and the commercialization process. Edible films and coatings are generally classified according to the structural material: proteins, polysaccharides, lipids or composite. An edible film or coating is a primary packaging made primarily from edible components from biopolymers. Packaging technology uses several packaging materials to analyze their performance with respect to fresh produce and to reduce the volume or weight of materials, costs and resources.
