Sonochemical treatment of packaging materials for prolonging fresh produce shelf life

Packaging bags made of polyethylene (PE) were sonochemically coated with edible antibacterial nanoparticles of chitosan (CS). In this work, the nanoparticles (NPs) were deposited on the surface of PE packaging bags by applying sonication waves on an acetic solution of chitosan. The characterization of CS NPs and PE bags was conducted by physicochemical techniques. The results showed that the coated bags had longer freshness than the uncoated ones. Furthermore, the characterization of cucumber, mushroom, and garlic placed into coated and uncoated PE bags was conducted by monitoring various parameters such as mass loss, total soluble solids, pH, and visual inspection. The study revealed that the PE bags coated with CS NPs showed a noticeable result in extending the shelf life of fresh produce. Finally, the antibacterial activity of PE bags was evaluated against various bacterial species. Hence, the PE bags coated with CS NPs could be a promising candidate for elongating the shelf life of packaged fresh produce.