Impact of organic acid cross-linking on the structure and functional properties of gum arabic and guar gum: Formulation of an edible coating for enhancing strawberry shelf life

Anchal Choudhary; Mansuri M Tosif; Aarti Bains; Gulden Goksen; Rupak Nagraik; Sanju Bala Dhull; Nemat Ali; Nazish Muzaffar; Prince Chawla

doi:10.1016/j.fochx.2025.102527

Impact of organic acid cross-linking on the structure and functional properties of gum arabic and guar gum: Formulation of an edible coating for enhancing strawberry shelf life

Food Chem X. 2025 May 5:28:102527. doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2025.102527. eCollection 2025 May.

Authors

Anchal Choudhary¹, Mansuri M Tosif¹, Aarti Bains², Gulden Goksen³, Rupak Nagraik⁴, Sanju Bala Dhull⁵, Nemat Ali⁶, Nazish Muzaffar⁷, Prince Chawla¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food Technology and Nutrition, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab 144411, India.
² Department of Microbiology, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab 144411, India.
³ Department of Food Technology, Vocational School of Technical Sciences at Mersin Tarsus Organized Industrial Zone, Tarsus University, 33100 Mersin, Turkey.
⁴ Department of Biotechnology, Graphic Era, Deemed to be University, 248002 Dehradun, India.
⁵ Department of Food Science and Technology, Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa 125055, Haryana, India.
⁶ Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2457, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ College of Food Science and Technology, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, China.

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of organic acid modification on the structural characteristics and functional properties of gum arabic (GA) and guar gum (GG) by incorporating different ratios of organic acids including citric acid (CA), malic acid (MA), and tartaric acids (TA). Results revealed that organic acid modification of GA resulted in an increase in particle size with higher organic acid concentrations (1:2 w/w ratio compared to 1:1 w/w). Moreover, GA modified by CA exhibited the highest DS values from 0.79 ± 0.04 to 0.81 ± 0.09. SEM analysis revealed uniform particles with noticeable agglomeration, while FTIR confirmed successful carboxyl group incorporation and ester bond formation, contributing to enhanced structural complexity. TGA indicated improved thermal stability. Furthermore, application on strawberries revealed that the modified gum coating effectively maintained freshness of strawberries over 16 days of storage. Overall, these findings revealed the potential of organic acid-modified gums to enhance their functional properties.

Keywords: Citric acid; Gums; Organic acids: guar gum; Polysaccharide.