Edible Coatings for Fresh Produce: Functional Roles, Optimization Strategies, and Analytical Perspectives

Fresh fruit are inherently prone to postharvest deterioration due to loss of moisture, respi-ration, mechanical damage, and microbial decay, making quality preservation a persis-tent challenge across fresh produce supply chains. While conventional plastic packaging offers barrier protection and cost-efficiency, its environmental footprint, particularly poor biodegradability and increasing incidence of plastic waste necessitates a transition to-ward more sustainable alternatives. Among these, the use of edible coatings, primarily based on natural biopolymers, has emerged as a versatile strategy capable of modulating transpiration, gas exchange, microbial activity, and sensory quality while addressing en-vironmental concerns. Unlike biodegradable plastic films, edible coatings directly inter-face with the fruit surface and offer multifunctional roles extending beyond passive pro-tection. This review consolidates the current understanding of edible coatings with an emphasis on their functional performance, covering moisture management, gas permea-bility, microbial control, and sensory and nutritional quality retention. It further evaluates coating optimization strategies involving material selection, formulation, and advanced application and testing techniques. Despite growing interest, several challenges remain under-addressed: variability in barrier and mechanical properties, limited compatibility with high-throughput handling, and ambiguous regulatory pathways. The review identi-fies key knowledge gaps and highlights opportunities for innovation in nanocomposite development, active ingredient incorporation, and structural characterization. Bridging these gaps is crucial for transitioning edible coatings from conceptual sustainability solu-tions to commercially viable, function-driven technologies in sustainable postharvest fruit packaging.