**1. Introduction**

428 The Complex World of Polysaccharides

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Overall quality and shelf-life of fresh foods post-harvest or -slaughter is reduced by several factors including microbial growth, water loss, enzymatic browning, lipid oxidation, offflavor, texture deterioration, rise in respiration rate and senescence processes, among others. In fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, these events are accelerated due to lesions of tissues during peeling, slicing and cutting [1]; whereas, in meat products these events are accelerated due to lesions of tissues during cutting and grounding.

Fresh-cut fruits and vegetables during mechanical operations are exposed to spoil because the natural protection of fruit (the peel or skin) is generally removed and hence, they become highly susceptible to microbial growth due to the leakage of juices and sugar from damaged tissues which allow the growth and fermentation of some microorganism. Likewise, during processing, enzymes such as polyphenol oxidase, polygalacturonase and pectin methylesterase are released, thus causing, browning and softening from the tissues, respectively. These enzymes come in contact with phenolic compounds for forming brown pigments, and hydrolyze the α-1,4-glucosidic bonds to degrade the tissues [2].

Appearance/color, texture, and flavor are the main quality attributes that affect consumer acceptance of meat, and lipid oxidation is one of the primary causes by quality deterioration in meat and meat products [3]. The meat once cut or sliced is exposed to the surrounding environment, and cell compounds released during mechanical operations react with the environment and cause quality deterioration of tissues. Lipid oxidation occur when oxygen come in contact with lipid present in pieces of meats, being the iron the major catalyst in lipid oxidation processes. This process is associated with the presence of free radicals that lead to the production of aldehydes, which are responsible for the development of rancid flavors and changes in the color of meat [4].

© 2012 Raybaudi-Massilia and Mosqueda-Melgar, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2012 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

On the other hand, dairy products such as fresh and semi-hard cheeses are complex food products consisting mainly of casein, fat, and water. Such products are highly perishable due to the high content of moisture (only in fresh cheeses) and microorganisms, and some cases high fat-content [5]; therefore, off-flavor, lipid oxidation and microbial spoilage are the major quality deteriorations.

Because of happened issues in the past with fresh or fresh-cut products, new technologies have been applied to counteract these negatives effects. Among them, polysaccharide-based edible films and coatings have emerged like good alternative for enhancing the quality and safety of such foods. Edible films and coatings have been used to reduce the deleterious effect caused by minimal processing. The semipermeable barrier provided by edible coatings is focused to extend shelf-life by reducing moisture and solutes migration, gas exchange, respiration and oxidative reaction rates, as well as suppress physiological disorders on fresh and/or fresh-cut foods [6]. However, the use of edible films and coatings for a wide range of food products, including fresh and minimally processed vegetables and fruits, has received an increasing interest because films and coatings can serve as carriers for a wide range of food additives including: antimicrobials, antioxidants and antisoftening compounds into edible films or coatings to provide a novel way for enhancing the safety and shelf-life of fresh, fresh-cut or ready-to-eat foods [7-10].

The new generation of edible films and coatings is being especially designed to increase their functionalities by incorporating natural or nutraceutical/functional ingredients such as probiotics, minerals and vitamins [10-11]. In addition, the sensory quality of coated products with edible materials can be also improved [2,7-9]. On the other hand, encapsulation (microencapsulation or nanoencapsulation) are being currently applied to foods to preserve and protect the additive or bioactive compounds from the surrounding environment [12-14].

In this chapter will discuss the use of polyssacharide-based edible films and coatings as polymeric matrix to carrier additive or bioactive compounds such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antisoftening and nutraceutical for enhancing the shelf-life, safety and sensory attributes of fresh food products, as well as methodologies of forming and application of edible films and coatings and futures trends using microencapsulation or nanotechnology.
