The Solution Coating Silk Able to Make Fresh Fruit Lasting Longer

The Solution Coating Silk Able to Make Fresh Fruit Lasting Longer

If stored longer in the refrigerator fruit will quickly rot. The latest discovery called the fruit coating with a solution of silk making fresh fruit longer.

Quoted from ScienceDaily (06/05), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations states that half of the amount of fruit and vegetables in the world lost in transit due to broken and rotten.

Tufts University biomedical experts also showed the condition of fruits that can last a long time for more than a week without using coolant. However, it must be coated with a solution of silk thin and invisible. This is an alternative approach to preserve perishable food using natural ingredients with a water-based process. The unique structure of this silk crystal be one of nature's toughest material.

Fibroin, silk-soluble protein capable of stabilizing and protecting material which is biocompatible and biodegradable.Dalam this study, the researchers dipped strawberries freshly picked into the silk fibroin protein solution of 1%. The coating process is repeated up to four times.

These fruits are then treated with a number of different times with water vapor under vacuum (water annealed) make various percentages of crystalline beta-sheets in layers.

If the presentation of the longer, the higher the percentage of beta-sheet and stronger layer fibroinnya, namely 27-35 microns thick. Strawberry then stored at room temperature.

Strawberry is not coated at all compared to that has been put in water annealed and coated silk within a different time period. Within 7 days, the fruits are still coated by silk still looked fresh and juicy. While the usual fruit has dried and discolored. This test shows that the silk lining is able to make long-lasting freshness of the fruit respiration slows down, extending the freshness of fruits, and prevent damage.

A senior author, Fiorenzo G. Omenetto of the Department of Biomedical Engineering said, "The content of beta-sheet of silk fiber layer can make strawberry less exposure to carbon dioxide and oxygen. We saw a statistically significant delay in the process of decaying fruit." Similar experiments also carried out on bananas. In contrast to strawberry, ripe quickly after harvest. Layer silk solution can reduce the level of ripening bananas than that is not coated with silk by increasing the robustness of the fruit and prevents softening of the skin.