Fuente: PubMed "essential oil" J Sci Food Agric. 2026 Mar 8. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.70561. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBACKGROUND: Cherry tomatoes are prone to postharvest deterioration and spoilage at room temperature, whereas chemical preservatives pose safety and environmental risks. Clove essential oil (CEO) has excellent antibacterial activity but is limited by high volatility, poor water solubility and dosage sensitivity. Cyclodextrin metal-organic frameworks (β-CD-MOFs) can improve CEO stability, but their poor processability and aqueous dispersibility hinder fruit preservation applications. Chitosan (CS), a natural hydrogel with film-forming and antibacterial properties, offers an ideal matrix to address these limitations.RESULTS: A CEO-loaded CS/β-CD-MOFs composite coating (CS-CEO/MOFs) was constructed and evaluated on cherry tomatoes stored at 25 °C via physicochemical analysis, electronic eye color detection and texture profile analysis (TPA). Compared with control, CS and high-concentration CEO-chitosan (CS-CEO-H) groups, high-concentration CS-CEO/MOFs (CS-CEO/MOFs-H) delayed spoilage. Principal component analysis of electronic eye data showed the recognition index (a parameter reflecting the distinguishability of color characteristics among groups) increased from -3 (day 0) to 97-98 (days 6-21), indicating distinct inter-group ripening rate differences. TPA results indicated CS-CEO/MOFs-H slowed hardness decline (effect positively correlated with hydrogel concentration) and maintained higher soluble sugar, vitamin C and titratable acid contents, as well as reduced weight loss, extending room-temperature shelf life to 21 days.CONCLUSION: The CS-CEO/MOFs coating combined the gas barrier property of CS and the controlled release capability of β-CD-MOF, forming a synergistic fresh-keeping mechanism. As a safe, natural preservative, it provides a promising solution to reduce cherry tomato postharvest losses and lays a foundation for the development of plant-derived composite preservatives with controlled-release and gas barrier synergistic properties. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.PMID:41796041 | DOI:10.1002/jsfa.70561