Bitter Apricot Seed Kernel Oil Coating for Food Preservation and Shelf-Life Extension

Bitter apricot belongs to the genus Prunus and family Rosaceae and possesses bioactive compounds including oil with medicinal potential. A study was designed to investigate the food preservation and shelf-life extension potency of bitter apricot seed kernel oil (BASKO). It was used as a coating material independently or pure oil coating (OC) and integrated with a film-forming solution (FFS) for the extension of shelf-life. It was also used in a challenge study against fungal and bacterial species. The FFS coating was found effective, as the coated apples remained relatively fresh (internally and externally), whereas the OC applied was found partially shrunk compared to the completely spoiled uncoated (control) apples, after 20 weeks of incubation with a weight loss of 35 ± 2% for uncoated, 11 ± 1% for OC, and 5 ± 1% for FFS coated. The nutritional status of the apples during shelf-life studies showed that the carbohydrates (28.16 ± 0.91 and 34.14 ± 1.04 μg/mL) and protein (3.704 ± 0.30 and 3.549 ± 0.53 μg/mL) amount decreased in both oil and FFS coated apples compared to the fresh apple samples calculated at initial stage of the experiments 39.01 ± 1.02 μg/mL (carbohydrates) and 3.34 ± 0.58 μg/mL (protein), respectively. The BASKO coating reduced the fungal (Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus) and bacterial (Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli) number during the challenge studies and prevented the spoilage of apples in the inoculated apples during the 16-week incubation. It was concluded in the study that BASKO can be used as a strong preservative for fresh fruit preservation and can be a good choice for food industry applications.