Biopolymer Coatings as Alternative to Modified Atmosphere Packaging for Shelf Life Extension of Minimally Processed Apples
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript describes results regarding caseinate/chitosan biopolymer coating which extends the shelf life of minimally processed apples from 7 days to 11 days. The highlight is on the effect of the coating on respiration rate through temperature and gas composition activity. A significant quality of the article is the clearly described study design and the logical sequence of the results.
In the introductory text, an update of the literature would give some nice recent data and originality. There are some recent and relevant articles and reviews regarding the use of biopolymer coatings with a positive effect on fruit shelf life extension, published in the last 1-5 years.
Some minor comments:
Please, insert a space before °C (i.e. line 11, 17, 19, 66, 71, …) Line 16 - Correct “had no effect on” – “did not affect” Line 15&16 introduce “the” before “presence” and “respiration” Line 16-17 replace of 50% with by 50% Line 19 introduce “the” before “product” Line 25 please correct “eat plenty” to “to eat plenty” Line 26 correct 5-kyes to 5-keys Please insert a space before g (i.e. line 74, 76, 142, …) Line 166 correct figure 1A to Figure 1A Figure 1 – correct Temperatura to Temperature and delete the space between ° and C, also A and B could be introduced in the figure without covering the axes. Figure 2 – An A and B could be introduced before the control and coated samples. Correct “Also, from the imagine it is possible to observe the protective effect of the coating on appearance of minimally processed apples (figure 3).” to “Also, from the image, it is possible to observe the protective effect of the coating on the appearance of minimally processed apples (Figure 3).” Line 284 correct extend to plural form References should be formatted according to journal requirements.
Overall, the manuscript presents a detailed work and good results in correlation with similar studies on chitosan/caseinate coatings but some minor structural changes and also the introduction of some recent articles is needed.
Author Response
Dear Editor,
Journal: Coatings
Manuscript ID: coatings-585665
Thank you very much for sending us the Reviewers’ comments on our manuscript. I would like to thank both the reviewers for the suggestions. They helped to improve the quality of the manuscript. We have carefully considered all the comments and corrections have been made in the manuscript accordingly by using the "Track Changes" function in Microsoft Word. The following is our list of the point-to-point responses to the comments:
#Reviewer 1
The manuscript describes results regarding caseinate/chitosan biopolymer coating which extends the shelf life of minimally processed apples from 7 days to 11 days. The highlight is on the effect of the coating on respiration rate through temperature and gas composition activity. A significant quality of the article is the clearly described study design and the logical sequence of the results.
In the introductory text, an update of the literature would give some nice recent data and originality. There are some recent and relevant articles and reviews regarding the use of biopolymer coatings with a positive effect on fruit shelf life extension, published in the last 1-5 years.
Some recent articles have been added (Line 55). References from 15 to 18.
Some minor comments:
Please, insert a space before °C (i.e. line 11, 17, 19, 66, 71, …). The spaces have been inserted among all the text.
Line 16 - Correct “had no effect on” – “did not affect”.
Changes made accordingly
Line 15&16 introduce “the” before “presence” and “respiration”.
Changes made accordingly
Line 16-17 replace of 50% with by 50%.
Changes made accordingly
Line 19 introduce “the” before “product”.
Changes made accordingly
Line 25 please correct “eat plenty” to “to eat plenty”.
Changes made accordingly
Line 26 correct 5-kyes to 5-keys.
Changes made accordingly
Please insert a space before g (i.e. line 74, 76, 142, …).
The spaces have been inserted among all the text.
Line 166 correct figure 1A to Figure 1A.
Changes made accordingly
Figure 1 – correct Temperatura to Temperature and delete the space between ° and C, also A and B could be introduced in the figure without covering the axes.
Changes made accordingly
Figure 2 – An A and B could be introduced before the control and coated samples.
Changes made accordingly
Correct “Also, from the imagine it is possible to observe the protective effect of the coating on appearance of minimally processed apples (figure 3).” to “Also, from the image, it is possible to observe the protective effect of the coating on the appearance of minimally processed apples (Figure 3).”
Changes made accordingly
Line 284 correct extend to plural form.
Changes made accordingly
References should be formatted according to journal requirements.
The references have been modified according to the journal requirements.
Reviewer 2 Report
Review of Manuscript ID: Coatings-585665
Type of manuscript: Article
Title: Biopolymer coatings as alternative to modified atmosphere packaging for shelf life extension of minimally processed apples
Fruits are key elements of a healthy and balanced diet providing humans with essential nutrients. People whose diets are rich in fruits and vegetable have a significantly lower risk of civilization diseases: obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and certain types of cancer. A wide variety of minimally processed fruits and vegetables products has been offered on the market, resulting in an increased consumption and consequently intake of fresh fruits and vegetable, benefitting the agrifood economy and human well-being. Minimally processed apples are one of the most present fruit in the market. I believe that the topic of research taken up by the authors of the manuscript is important. The use of biopolymer coatings is a very good alternative to the modified atmosphere method. It also allows for a significant extension of the freshness time and preservation of bioactive properties.
I fully recommend the manuscript to be published after taking into account minor comments:
Line 122 - ……where Pi is the weight of sample beafore and Pf after the oven storage
Line 118 - Provide a references for the method of determining moisture content, pH, color of apples,
Line 142 - Enter how apples were ground,
Line 149 - …..and cand R….. must be …….and s and R,
Line 166 – (figure 1A) must be (Fig. 1A), (Figure 1B) must be (Fig. 1B),
Line 185 - …by [16] must be ……by Qi et al. (2011),
Line 208 – (figure 2A) must be (Fig. 2A), (figure 2B) must be (Fig. 2B),
Line 342 - the year should be listed after the magazine title.
Author Response
Dear Editor,
Journal: Coatings
Manuscript ID: coatings-585665
Thank you very much for sending us the Reviewers’ comments on our manuscript. I would like to thank both the reviewers for the suggestions. They helped to improve the quality of the manuscript. We have carefully considered all the comments and corrections have been made in the manuscript accordingly by using the "Track Changes" function in Microsoft Word. The following is our list of the point-to-point responses to the comments:
#Reviewer 2
Line 122 - ……where Pi is the weight of sample beafore and Pf after the oven storage.
Changes made accordingly
Line 118 - Provide a references for the method of determining moisture content, pH, color of apples,
The code of the standard or common methods has been reported in the text. Thus:
ASTM D2974 for moisture content, ISO 1842:1991 for pH determination. For the color measurement a reference of a previous work has been cited.
Line 142 - Enter how apples were ground.
The sentence "with mortar and pestle" has been added.
Line 149 - …..and cand R….. must be …….and s and R.
The letter s has been replaced with c
Line 166 – (figure 1A) must be (Fig. 1A), (Figure 1B) must be (Fig. 1B).
Changes made accordingly
Line 185 - …by [16] must be ……by Qi et al. (2011).
Changes made accordingly
Line 208 – (figure 2A) must be (Fig. 2A), (figure 2B) must be (Fig. 2B).
Changes made accordingly
Line 342 - the year should be listed after the magazine title.
Changes made accordingly
