Quality changes and postharvest-losses of strawberry fruit packed in nano embedded biodegradable polyethylene films

Strawberries are highly perishable fruits with a short shelf life. This study aimed to investigate the impact of various low-density polyethylene (LDPE) packaging films on the quality changes and postharvest losses of strawberries. Four types of Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) films were used for packaging: conventional LDPE (CLDPE), biodegradable LDPE (BLDPE), biodegradable LDPE/nano-clay (BLDPE/NC), and biodegradable LDPE/nano-mineral (BLDPE/NM). The composition of the LDPE films influenced their oxygen transmission rate and water vapor transmission rate, resulting in improved barrier properties. Compared to CLDPE film, strawberries packed in BLDPE, BLDPE/NC, and BLDPE/NM films exhibited reduced color changes, lower decay indexes, and decreased microbial populations. Among the films, BLDPE and BLDPE/NC films showed the lowest weight loss during storage, while BLDPE/NM film had a slightly higher weight loss. The titratable acidity of the fruit showed similar trends among the different packaging films during storage. However, in contrast to the CLDPE, packaging with other films maintained firmness and had higher levels of soluble solids, vitamin C, total phenolics, total flavonoids, total anthocyanin, total antioxidant activity, and superoxide dismutase activity compared to those packed in CLDPE film. These findings suggest that the use of BLDPE and BLDPE/NC films, can effectively preserve the quality of strawberries by minimizing weight loss, maintaining firmness, and enhancing their nutritional and antioxidant properties during storage.