ABSTRACT
Coating fruits surface with biodegradable films obtained from starch is an alternative to delay the fruit ripening process. This study aimed to develop a biodegradable film from a polymer blend consisting of natural cassava starch, casein, and gelatin, and using sorbitol as the plasticizer. Among all the prepared biodegradable films (BFs), the one with desirable results in thickness, opacity, solubility, and water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) analyzes was based on a high concentration of starch, and casein, and low concentration of gelatin. Also, this film had the lowest solubility among all of them. Guava fruit coated with this film showed a two-day increase in shelf-life when compared to non-coated guavas. The increase in shelf-life was due to the extremely low water vapor transmission rate of the films, decreasing the fruits' mass loss, and, consequently, retarding their senescence. These results indicate that the biodegradable film is a promising material for fruit coating.
