**31. Fruits and vegetables**

The major postharvest losses of fruits are due to fungal infection, physiological disorders, and physical injuries [102, 104, 187]. One of the potential approaches to extend the storability of these perishable commodities is to apply edible coatings on the surface, followed by a cold storage [188]. Edible coatings can be used as a protective barrier to reduce respiration and transpiration rates through fruit surfaces, retard microbial growth and color changes, and improve texture quality of fruits [171]. Coating fruits with semipermeable film has generally been shown to retard ripening by modifying the endogenous CO2, O2, and ethylene levels of fruits [102]. Chitosan coating is likely to modify

the internal atmosphere without causing anaerobic respiration, since chitosan films are more selectively permeable to O2 than to CO2 [189]. Therefore, chitosan coating with its ability to modify internal atmosphere in the tissue and fungistatic property has a potential to prolong storage life and control decay of fruits.
