**1. Introduction**

The global production of fruits keep increasing as a result of the rise in the population demand, elevation in the living quality standard and the increase in health awareness of fresh food products especially fruits and vegetables. This is because fruits and vegetables play vital roles in healthy nutrition due to their vitamins, minerals, antioxidant content among others. According to FAOSTAT [1], within about 10 years, the production of fruits which include drupes, berries, pome fruits, melons and tomatoes increased from 2,587,570 in 2007 to 34,622,004 metric tonnes in 2017. However food production has been reported by Alexandratos and Bruinsma [2] that it should be increased by 60% in 2050. Thus the increase in production is needed in parallel with the growth of the global population. However, postharvest losses which result in the degradation of quantity and quality of the fruits after harvest constitute a serious challenge.

Though these fruits have very high nutritional values, they are highly perishable due to their high moisture content and nutritional value leading to the development of undesirable characteristics as well as issues of food safety. These fresh food products are susceptible to dehydration, mechanical injury, environmental stress, pathological breakdown and enzymatic attacks which leads to some nutritional, functional and sensorial losses and production of off flavour and also posing a level of threat in terms of possessing a level of toxicity. There is a level of reduction of the edible quality of the food products due to biochemical changes, physiological ageing and microbial infections during storage and transportation.

Therefore the gas composition greatly affects the shelf life of the products. Extension of the supply time of fruits and vegetables besides preserving their quality would have economic profits [3]. In this regard, post-harvest practices aiming to maintain the physicochemical composition during storage must be adopted.

Fruits are either climacteric or unclimacteric. The latter cannot ripen once removed from the plant but the former can ripen after being picked and produce more ethylene which makes them more susceptible to spoilage. Thus to inhibit the rate of deterioration of these fruits, these is a need to alter the gaseous environment or control it. For instance making use of packaging materials with low water vapour and oxygen permeability to reduce respiration but not too low oxygenated environment which can lead to anaerobic respiration which can also produce off-flavours.

Although MAP and CA technologies can be regarded as the most effective methods with extensive and successful applications, they are quite expensive and chemical treatments on the other hand have potential levels of toxicity. Low temperature storage might also lead to chilling injury and heat treatment also leads to nutrient losses, decreased weight, flavour and vitamin losses [4]. One novel postharvest technology to circumvent these limitations is the use of edible coating which can control and inhibit the deteriorative changes as well as increasing the shelf life of the products. Edible coating/films is a good candidate to help solve the cases of postharvest losses since it has mechanical, thermal, antimicrobial and even antioxidant properties.

Edible coating or films are biopolymers that are hugely being investigated for the packaging and preservation of food. Edible packaging materials are a type of packaging that could be eaten and have the biodegradable ability also provides a barrier against moisture, gases and solute movement. Edible coatings are usually made from biodegradable materials such as Lipid-, Protein- or Polysaccharidebased materials. This packaging material is either used via a film or using coating. The latter is usually in liquid form whiles the former usually forming a thin layer around the food product. Edible coatings can be defined as a thin layer of edible and environmentally friendly materials that could be consumed and provide a barrier to gases, microbes and moisture to food products. Application of these films is simple, eco-friendly, highly safe and low priced which makes it promising for preserving food products.

There has been several research works on the impact of edible coating on the physiological and microbial stability of some fresh produce. For instance, Li et al. [5] verifies that application of Cinnamaldehyde as an edible coating on banana showed a significant decrease in the weight loss and ripening rate of the banana. Also, application of protein isolate with organo-clay MMT on minimally processed papaya sliced also demonstrated a lower microbial growth and lower mass loss [6]. An increasing interest in edible films/coatings is an outcome of growing consumer awareness on healthy foods, and also due to negative impacts of non-biodegradable synthetic packaging materials on the environment.

Edible coatings/films helps to improve the appearance of horticultural produce by giving shine, hiding scars, suppressing decay and physiological disorder developments [7]. Edible coatings can be generally classified into three main groups; Protein-based edible coatings, Polysaccharide-based coatings and lipid-based coatings. The choice of active agents depends on the characteristics of the product and the type of polymeric matrix in the coatings. Active or functional compounds; Antioxidants, antimicrobials, nutrients, vitamins, anti-browning agents, enzymes and probiotics that could be applied into coating matrix to help preserving products quality.

## *Edible Coating DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101283*
