Edible Coatings May Boost Food Safety

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"They haven't yet been tested in the real world, which means they need to be tested on fresh fruits and vegetables. So we don't know how efficacious they would really be," said Dr. Pascal James Imperato, chairman of the department of preventive medicine and community health at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, and a former New York City health commissioner.

"When produce is shipped, it undergoes a great deal of handling and exposure to many different temperature environments," Imperato said. "For this to have commercial applications, it would have to undergo much more stringent scientific study."

Food allergy is another possible complication, Imperato said. "Suppose you have someone who's allergic to oregano? I would view this study as showing interesting preliminary scientific results that would have to be corroborated by other scientists before these coatings are adopted by the commercial fresh produce industry."

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Because E. coli and other microorganisms can lurk anywhere on the surface -- or even the interior -- of fresh produce, it's possible that the coatings might not affect them all, said Arun Bhunia, professor of food microbiology at the Purdue University department of food science in West Lafayette, Ind.

"My concern is that only a small portion of the food would be in direct contact with the film," Bhunia said. "How can it be assured that the entire content of a package would be exposed to the antimicrobial agent and thus provide safety? How stable is this compound, and how long would it maintain its activity? It also appears that the researchers have not tested many strains of E. coli O157:H7 to assess overall efficacy."

"This is the beginning of a three-year project," McHugh said. "We'll be testing a wide range of natural compounds, not just against E. coli but also against listeria and salmonella. The ones that are shown to be effective will be tested directly on produce and meat products. We need to find out if these compounds are active against bacteria that adhere in different ways to different foods."

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