**6. Applications of edible film and coating in the dairy and food industry**

### **6.1 Dairy industry**

#### *6.1.1 Paneer*

Cinnamon essential oil–added edible film has excellent antioxidant as well as antimicrobial activity against spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms. Paneer packed in alginate-calcium edible film increases the quality of the panner during storage than the control sample of panner. It helps to increase its shelf life from 5–6 days to 13 days [188].

#### *6.1.2 Cheese*

The literature study suggests that cheese packaging is one of the potential application areas for edible packaging given that antimicrobial film in cheese has been found to have a significant impact on its shelf life. According to Fajardo et al. [189], saloio cheese's storage stability was increased by employing chitosan-based film as a natamycin carrier; they also discovered that the product was stable for 7 days in ambient storage settings. Cheddar cheese was covered in whey protein films, and they discovered that the coatings preserved the products' features and sensory attributes normally [190].

The goal of an edible whey-protein-based coating packed with antimicrobial agents is an efficient approach to stop the development of harmful germs and increase in shelf life of the product. Ricotta cheese coated with chitosan/whey protein edible film and stored at 4°C for 30 days exhibited a significant reduction in mesophilic and psychrotrophic counts compared with control [191]. Henriques et al*.* [192] stated that edible whey protein concentrate coatings prepared by heat denaturation or UV irradiation and merged with antimicrobials (lactic acid and natamycin) seem to be a potential alternative for commercial coatings in ripened cheese.

For prolonging the shelf life of low-fat cut cheese, it is coated by edible material added with oregano essential oil, which acts as antimicrobial as a mandarin fibre, which is based on nano-emulsion by retarding the growth of microorganisms during storage of low-fat cut cheese [193]. Zein-based blend coating helps to lower the weight loss by 30% and also helps to avoid microbial contamination of mode cheese or short ripening period cheese for more than 50 days as normal unpacked cheese sample gets contaminated after 21 days [194]. Shelf life of Mongolian cheese coated with water chestnut starch-chitosan film is determined at 8°C. This film contains perilla oil which acts as an antimicrobial agent and also helps to reduce weight loss [195]. The active coating of mozzarella cheese helps to retard the growth of microorganisms, and also it improves its sensory quality of it. It includes the addition of potassium sorbate (PS), sodium benzoate (SB), calcium lactate (CL) and calcium ascorbate (CA). Potassium sorbate gives the best effect than others. It increases its shelf life too [196].

#### *6.1.3 Ice-cream holding edible cone*

Ice-cream cone is mainly made up of flour and sugar, and it contains acetylated monoglycerides and has good moisture barrier property, which holds the ice-cream for longer as well as it is edible too. The chocolate coating of cone is used as a barrier which maintained the crispiness of that cone [197].
