Investigation of different coating application methods on the performance of edible coatings on Mozzarella cheese

• Coating methods affected morphology and thickness of resulted films on cheese.
• The properties of coating solutions significantly impacted their performances.
• Sodium alginate coated cheese possessed best overall properties during storage.
• Preservation effects were not obviously different among four coating methods.

The performance of edible coating is influenced by the properties of coating materials and execution methods. In this study, three different coating materials (chitosan, sodium alginate, and soy protein isolate) and four different coating application methods (dipping, enrobing, spraying and electrostatic spraying) were investigated on their performance for coating Mozzarella cheese. The properties of coating solutions, morphology and basic quality changes of the cheese during storage at 4 °C were evaluated. Results showed that sodium alginate solution was the most viscous (η = 0.155 Pa s) and had small contact angle on hydrophobic substrate surface indicating its better spreadability on cheese. Film thickness displayed obvious differences based on the coating methods (ranging from 30.6 to 83.3 μm), with two spraying methods leading to thinner coatings. Sodium alginate coated cheese possessed the best overall physicochemical properties during storage whereas the preservation effects were not significantly different among four coating methods. This study provided valuable new information about the effective coating application methods for different coating materials.