PRESERVATION STRATEGY FOR CHEESE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS OF EDIBLE FILMS AND COATINGS

Abstract

Cheese is a highly perishable dairy product prone to microbial and physicochemical spoilage due to its high moisture and nutrient content. Implementing biopolymer-based edible films and coatings offered a promising natural packaging alternative, utilizing thin, biodegradable surface layers designed to block oxygen, limit moisture transfer, and inhibit surface contamination. While numerous individual experiments evaluated their application between 2010 and 2024, variations in experimental methods and cheese varieties yielded highly inconsistent conclusions. Executing a meta-analysis, which served as a rigorous statistical method to quantitatively pool separate research datasets into unified trends, was therefore critical to resolve these contradictions and establish valid, macro-level evidence. Consequently, this study aimed to systematically evaluate the global effectiveness of edible packaging as a cheese preservation strategy and to identify the most successful formulations across different dairy systems. Utilizing a standardized seven-stage systematic review protocol combined with mixed-effects modeling across sixteen core parameters, the pooled data confirmed that edible packaging was highly effective at preserving cheese quality. The most pronounced benefits occurred in physical, chemical, and sensory metrics, specifically by retaining matrix moisture, preserving structural fat percentage, suppressing lipid oxidation (TBARS), and improving overall sensory acceptability while maintaining baseline optical lightness (L*). Concurrently, these biopolymers and essential oil delivered powerful antimicrobial control against primary spoilage and pathogenic vectors, specifically total bacteria, psychrotrophic bacteria, and coliform proliferation. These primary preservation gains occurred despite expected formulation trade-offs observed in weight loss, hardness, pH, titratable acidity, and surface discoloration (a* and b*). Furthermore, integrating all sixteen parameters through De Garmo’s Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis identified Zein incorporated with Heracleum persicum essential oil as the top-performing overall formulation (score: 0.875). Conclusively, these biopolymer coatings provided an advanced packaging solution to replace conventional plastics. Future studies were strongly recommended to evaluate the exact economic and production cost efficiencies between these active composite coatings and traditional plastics to successfully bridge the gap between academic research and industrial cheese application.