Food safety and shelf life are critical factors for human health and are greatly impacted by microbial spoilage.Despite the widespread use of synthetic preservatives,interest in natural alternatives has grown due to t...Food safety and shelf life are critical factors for human health and are greatly impacted by microbial spoilage.Despite the widespread use of synthetic preservatives,interest in natural alternatives has grown due to their possible health risks.The plant bioactives as natural alternatives are being explored for extending shelf life of food either via direct addition or in terms of edible coating and packaging films.The Ficus spp.,having a great ethnobotanical importance,have been used for a long time in traditional medicine.Its rich phytochemical profile exhibits a strong antimicrobial and antifungal property to combat various food-spoilage microorganisms,such as Escherichia coli,Staphylococcus aureus,Pseudomonas spp.,Candida albicans,Aspergillus flavus,and Penicillium expansum.The latex based edible coatings from Ficus spp.have shown real-food utility by extending the shelf life and enhancing the quality of dried fruits.The packaging film incorporated with Ficus carica leaves extract preserved the quality of apple slices.The addition of its aqueous leaf extract into the milk extends shelf life of pasteurized buffalo milk from 5 to 16 days without altering its properties.Despite the potential antimicrobial effects many of the Ficus plants such as Ficus virens,Ficus palmata,Ficus auriculata,and Ficus benghalensis still have not explored in food packaging or food preservation.These challenges can be addressed via various interdisci-plinary approaches such as metabolomics,pharmacology,nanotechnology,and computational biology.Additionally,compound stability,standardization,and widespread utilization are some of the research gaps that need to be discussed.展开更多
文摘Food safety and shelf life are critical factors for human health and are greatly impacted by microbial spoilage.Despite the widespread use of synthetic preservatives,interest in natural alternatives has grown due to their possible health risks.The plant bioactives as natural alternatives are being explored for extending shelf life of food either via direct addition or in terms of edible coating and packaging films.The Ficus spp.,having a great ethnobotanical importance,have been used for a long time in traditional medicine.Its rich phytochemical profile exhibits a strong antimicrobial and antifungal property to combat various food-spoilage microorganisms,such as Escherichia coli,Staphylococcus aureus,Pseudomonas spp.,Candida albicans,Aspergillus flavus,and Penicillium expansum.The latex based edible coatings from Ficus spp.have shown real-food utility by extending the shelf life and enhancing the quality of dried fruits.The packaging film incorporated with Ficus carica leaves extract preserved the quality of apple slices.The addition of its aqueous leaf extract into the milk extends shelf life of pasteurized buffalo milk from 5 to 16 days without altering its properties.Despite the potential antimicrobial effects many of the Ficus plants such as Ficus virens,Ficus palmata,Ficus auriculata,and Ficus benghalensis still have not explored in food packaging or food preservation.These challenges can be addressed via various interdisci-plinary approaches such as metabolomics,pharmacology,nanotechnology,and computational biology.Additionally,compound stability,standardization,and widespread utilization are some of the research gaps that need to be discussed.
