Gelatin-Based Edible Coating Combined with Mentha pulegium Essential Oil as Bioactive Packaging for Strawberries

Table 1

pH, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), and maturity index (MI) of coated and uncoated strawberries during storage at 4°C for 13 days.

Storage time (days)		0	3	7	10	13
pH	T1	3.80 ± 0.04^Aa	3.89 ± 0.02^Ab	3.93 ± 0.01^Ab	4.19 ± 0.01^Ac	4.08 ± 0.02^Ad
	T2	3.63 ± 0.03^Ba	3.72 ± 0.07^Ba	4.09 ± 0.01^Bbc	4.13 ± 0.01^Bb	4.01 ± 0.01^Bc
	T3	3.76 ± 0.02^Aa	3.80 ± 0.15^ABb	3.84 ± 0.01^Cb	3.97 ± 0.01^Cc	4.03 ± 0.02^Bd
	T4	3.62 ± 0.02^Ba	3.76 ± 0.02^Bb	3.79 ± 0.01^Db	3.88 ± 0.01^Dc	3.98 ± 0.01^Cd
TSS (brix)	T1	8.53 ± 0.15^Aa	7.47 ± 0.25^Ab	6.63 ± 0.15^ABc	5.17 ± 0.12^Ad	4.97 ± 0.12^Ad
	T2	8.03 ± 0.15^ABb	6.83 ± 0.06^Bb	6.80 ± 0.17^Ab	5.20 ± 0.10^Ac	5.30 ± 0.17^Ac
	T3	8.33 ± 0.15^Ba	6.43 ± 0.12^Cb	6.37 ± 0.06^Bb	5.53 ± 0.58^Bc	5.07 ± 0.11^Ad
	T4	7.96 ± 0.15^Ba	6.77 ± 0.06^BCb	6.57 ± 0.06^ABbc	6.47 ± 0.12^Cc	6.10 ± 0.10^Bd
TA (%)	T1	0.57 ± 0.02^ABa	0.45 ± 0.01^Ab	0.25 ± 0.02^Acd	0.22 ± 0.01^Ac	0.27 ± 0.01^Ad
	T2	0.53 ± 0.01^Aa	0.47 ± 0.02^Ab	0.31 ± 0.01^Bc	0.23 ± 0.01^Ad	0.37 ± 0.01^Be
	T3	0.58 ± 0.01^Ba	0.39 ± 0.03^Bb	0.40 ± 0.01^Cb	0.34 ± 0.02^Bc	0.31 ± 0.01^Cc
	T4	0.56 ± 0.01^ABa	0.49 ± 0.01^Ab	0.47 ± 0.01^Dbc	0.44 ± 0.01^Cc	0.37 ± 0.02^Bd
Maturity index (%)	T1	14.93 ± 0.29^Aa	16.51 ± 0.22^Aad	26.93 ± 2.48^Ab	23.29 ± 0.25^Ac	18.49 ± 0.56^Ad
	T2	15.07 ± 0.54^Aa	14.45 ± 0.82^ABa	21.83 ± 0.54^Bb	24.48 ± 0.72^Ac	14.29 ± 0.92^Ba
	T3	14.26 ± 0.48^Aa	16.46 ± 1.47^Aa	15.87 ± 0.25^Ca	18.98 ± 0.89^Bb	16.28 ± 0.65^Ba
	T4	14.26 ± 0.63^Aa	13.56 ± 0.37^Ba	13.99 ± 0.38^Ca	11.83 ± 0.11^Cb	16.28 ± 0.97^Bc

The values are given as mean ± standard deviation (n = 3). Different capital letters within a column indicate significant differences among treatments (). Different small letters within a row indicate significant differences due to storage time (). T1: control; T2: gelatin coating only; T3: gelatin + MEO (0.5%) coating; T4: gelatin + MEO (1%) coating.