Improving fresh strawberry shelf life and quality by using the fresh‐keeping paper embedded with oregano essential oil and tea polyphenols

Summary The short shelf life of fresh strawberries limits its marketing potential, despite its valuable economic and nutritional benefits. An environmentally friendly fresh‐keeping paper was prepared with oregano essential oil (OEO) and tea polyphenols (TP) and used in the storage of strawberries. Results showed that, during the late storage period, the TP and OEO fresh‐keeping paper treatments reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) content by 29.04% and 34.47%, respectively, compared with the control samples. The treatments also reduced decay incidence, weight loss, epidermal microorganisms and total anthocyanins content (TAC). Furthermore, the treatments reduce polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity, delay the colour development and maintain better sensory attributes. Notably, OEO fresh‐keeping paper treatment not only increased the titratable acidity (TA) and total soluble solids (TSS) content but also improved the scavenging ability of reactive oxygen species by maintaining high levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activity. These results demonstrated that fresh‐keeping paper treatment has the potential to extend the post‐harvest life of strawberries and improve their quality.