investigation of the effect of active edible coating and vacuum packaging on chemical, microbial and sensorial properties of ready to eat pomegranate arils

in this research, the effect of active edible coating based on carbocymethyl cellulose (cmc) containing pomegranate peel extract (ppe) and rese essential oil (reo) and also vacuum packaging (vp) on chemical attributes and microbial quality of packaged pomegranate arils during 15 days storage at 5 °c have been studied. the weight loss was increased by increasing storage time. but all treatments was able to diminish this weight loss. the coated sample with both ppe and reo in combination with vp had the lowest weight loss at day 15. also, total soluble solids was increased by using active coatings and vp. ph was not affected by active coatings and vp but acidity slightly increased especially by using active coatings. total aerobic mesophilic bacteria were not able to growth in pomegranate arils but yeasts and molds counts were increased during time. vp was more effective than active coatings on total yeasts and molds counts. cmc-reo coated and vacuum packaged sample had the lowest microbial contamination after 15 days.