INFLUÊNCIA DA COBERTURA DE QUITOSANA COM E SEM ADIÇÃO DE ÓLEO ESSENCIAL DE ORÊGANO NA VIDA ÚTIL DE TOMATES

Abstract

The tomato is a vegetable that is present on the table of consumers worldwide, has great nutritional and commercial value favoring the Brazilian economy and agriculture, however due to the high perishability and metabolic characteristics, there are great losses in all stages of the production process fruit and during consumption at home and restaurants. In view of this scenario, it is necessary to apply technologies to increase the useful life of this food, there are several methods that have been used and one of them is the application of edible films and coatings that act as active packaging with great antimicrobial potential, such as films and chitosan based coatings. Therefore, the objective of this work was to elaborate and evaluate the application of film and edible chitosan cover with or without essential oil of oregano in tomatoes subjected to room temperature, and to verify the effect of adding essential oil of oregano on chitosan films in increasing the useful life of tomatoes. For this, the coverings and films were produced from chitosan and the addition of the essential oil of oregano in a concentration of 0.5%. Tomatoes coated with toppings and tomatoes packed with films were analyzed for physico-chemical characteristics in relation to soluble solids, pH, titratable acidity, color and microbiologically evaluated for total and thermotolerant coliforms, salmonella and staphylococcus aureus. The films showed potential for future use in food packaging since there was no separation between chitosan and essential oil, and further analysis can be carried out to further characterize it.