Cinnamaldehyde -- the Preference of Fruit Preservative

China is a major producer of fruits in the world, with its total output reaching 120 million tons in 2010. Since China's fruit production jumped to the top of the world in 1993, China has been the world's largest fruit producer for 18 consecutive years. Because of the perishability of fruit and its seasonal and regional production, antisepsis and preservation of fruit is very important in China. Cinnamaldehyde is a relatively healthy preservative.

China mainly contains over 20 kinds of preservative agents, such as polyclonazole, tiabronin, methionyl, benfurazole, imidazole, isoburamide, sulfur dioxide, etc., but these preservative agents have high price, residual toxicity or poor effect.Hence, some black people violate the national laws and regulations by waxing fruits such as apples and oranges. However, although this can prolong the preservation time and keep bright, it is easy to cause "external good inside rottenness", because paraffin is airtight, it is easy to cause the heat and harmful gas inside can not come out, forming anaerobic decay and deterioration.

Therefore, it is not only important but urgent to find low toxicity, safe, efficient, convenient to use and cheap preservative agent for fruit. For this, concerned expert team of south China agriculture university made arduous effort. Team to 90 kinds of plant essential oil were used as material, with fumigation processing method of apricot fruit and kiwi fruit preservation role to do a lot of comparative study, the results screen to bacteriostasis stronger pale cinnamon essential oil, cinnamaldehyde, mountain son essential oil, geranium and bay leaf oil and other 11 kinds of plant essential oils, including cinnamaldehyde immerse use and use fumigation treatment of citrus penicilliosis works best. 

The results showed that the effect of citrus and strawberry could not be obtained by soaking in cinnamaldehyde alone, but the effect could be obtained by fumigating cinnamaldehyde alone. In addition, the use of cinnamaldehyde combined with chitosan film can have a better preservative effect on fruit.Cinnamaldehyde has low toxicity, the advantages of safety, low cost and fragrant smell, as a kind of safe natural source material, "standard of national food safety standards of using food additives GB27602011 version of other fruits anti-corrosive antistaling agent strict rules on the limits, of cinnamaldehyde has just said" according to the required to produce a moderate amount of use ", which is without limit. In view of the above advantages of cinnamaldehyde and the flexibility of using the method to soak fruits, fumigate and spray cloth before mining, experts claim that cinnamaldehyde is expected to be the most popular preservative and preservative agent for fruits.