Claims:I/We claims:
1. A polymer composition of edible coating solution comprising:
a) 0.5 g of almond gum powder and 1.0 g of sodium alginate
b) 0.3ml of sorbitol and 0.3ml of glycerol
2. The said polymer composition (claim 1 (a) was dissolved in 150ml of distilled water and stirred overnight (12hrs) using magnetic stirrer (30°C, 500rpm) and said polymer composition (claim 1(b)) was added to the solution and stirred for 2hrs at 50°C to get the homogenous solution.
3. The said polymer compositions from claim 1 were used to coat the tomatoes by dipping method. The process of the dipping method consists of,
a) The dipping was done directly by immersing the tomatoes for 1 minute and rotated 360 degree angle to ensure the uniformity of the coating and were exposed to the atmospheric condition.
b) The sample without coating was taken as control.
c) The coated/uncoated samples were exposed to atmospheric condition and analysis was done for alternative days in the storage period of 30 days.
4. The said polymer composition in the claim 1 can increase the shelf-life of the coated tomatoes until 30 days at 25°C and at (70% to 80%) RH.
, Description:BRIEF STATEMENT
[01] Embodiments herein generally relate to preparation of edible coating using said biopolymer to extend the shelf life of post-harvest tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L) without adding any harmful chemicals.

Background
[02] Innovation in food packaging system can assist to improve the consumer requirement, quality of food and protection of food from unhealthy environment. In general, food packaging is widely used to protect food from external contamination and other influences such as odour, temperature, humidity, dust, microorganism, physical and chemical damage.
[03] Contamination of food with environment affect the appearance, gaining or losing moisture, loss of aroma, quality and shelf life of food. Oxidation, microbial spoilage, and metabolism are the main causes of deterioration of many foods, such as apples, bananas, tomatoes, and mangoes, kiwifruit, during production, transport, processing, storage, and marketing.
[04] Food is the only product class typically consumed 3 times per day by every person. Moreover, Food packaging consumes considerable amount of budget thereby reducing the total profit margin. In addition, food materials also constitute to a major part of solid waste. According to U.S EPA (Environment protection agency) the total generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in 2018 was 292.4 million tons or 4.9 pounds per person per day. From that, more than 146 million tons of MSW (50 percent) were landfilled. This is due to use of the non-degradable materials mainly plastics. These non-degradable materials are not suitable for temporary use like food packaging, hence, development of edible film or biodegradable film using biopolymers can be a greatest alternate to overcome the difficulties in waste management.
[05] Edible film is a thin layer material which can be consumed and provides a barrier to moisture, oxygen, lipid, gas and solute movement for the food. Edible packaging offers greatest potential to improve the quality and shelf-life of food. In addition, edible films or coating play an important role in covering the thermo labile compounds like vitamins, aroma, and flavors, providing an efficient method to preserve their characteristics during food processing. Variety of biopolymers are used to prepare edible film such are starch, corn zein, chitosan, cellulose, gelatin, whey protein, biopolyesters, and soy protein. The current trend in packaging is to prepare edible film using a blend of different biopolymers.
[06] Now-a-days natural gums play important role in food packaging. Natural gums come under polysaccharides composed of sugars other than glucose and its capable of forming gel like material with high viscosity even at small concentration. They are chemically inert, biocompatible, odorless, inexpensive, non-toxic and abundant. As these gums are water soluble, they are also known as hydrocolloid polymers. First, they serve as sources of reserve nutrients, structural entities, and water-binding moieties. Second, they fulfill functions in food as moieties that govern the influence of shape, texture, water-binding and sensory properties.
[07] Polysaccharides act as source of nutrients and dietary fiber. Due to these properties, gums have many industrial applications. They are used as gelling agents, stabilizers, thickening agents and emulsifying agents. The film-forming properties of natural gums involve intermolecular forces such as crosslinking, electrostatic, hydrophobic, ionic interactions or intermolecular/intramolecular hydrogen bonding. Natural gum includes guar gum, xanthan gum, gellan, gum Arabic, almond gum are used in preparing edible films and coating.
[08] Accordingly, there remains a need for preparing edible coating using biopolymers which is essential to increase the shelf life of fresh fruits and vegetables.

SUMMARY
[09] There is an increasing interest of consumers and industrialists for introducing a natural biodegradable edible coating to improve the shelf-life of postharvest fruits and vegetables, and also it could replace the commercial unhealthy wax-based coating.
[10] Tomato is a perishable and thin skin fruit; it could easily accelerate the ripening process after harvest. This is due to increase of respiration rate and production of ethylene. In this work, we have created a biopolymer-based formulation to enhance the shelf-life of post-harvest tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.).
[11] 0.5 g of almond gum powder and 1.0 g of sodium alginate were dissolved in 150ml of distilled water and stirred overnight (12hrs) using magnetic stirrer (30°C, 500rpm). Then 0.3ml of sorbitol and 0.3ml of glycerol was added to the solution. It was stirred for 2hrs at 50°C to get the homogenous solution. Each tomato was dipped in coating solution for 2mins and control tomato was dipped in distilled water. It was dried at ambient temperature for 5hrs. The coated and uncoated tomatoes were stored in a tray at 25°C and at (70% to 80%) RH. Data were recorded from day 1. Weight loss, Titratable acidity (TA), Total soluble solids (TSS), Ascorbic acid content and anti-microbial activity were analysed on alternative days for 30 days.
[12] Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) were harvested at the mature-green stage of ripening. Tomatoes of similar size, shape, color and free from any defects were selected. Initially all the treated tomatoes were washed with a solution of sodium hypochlorite (0.05% (w/w) for 3 min and air-dried at ambient temperature (20°C). Almond gum and alginate are selected as a coating solution. All the glassware are sterilized previously.
[13] Weight loss, Titratable acidity (TA), Total soluble solids (TSS), Ascorbic acid content and anti-microbial activity has showed that significant differences were noted between coated and uncoated tomatoes. In conclusion, edible coating using almond gum/alginate was proved to be more effective to enhance the storage period of post-harvest tomato and can be used for small-scale industry in future.