Screening of Essential Oils and Effect of a Chitosan-Based Edible Coating Containing Cinnamon Oil on the Quality and Microbial Safety of Fresh-Cut Potatoes

Fresh-cut potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) are a popular food owing to their freshness, convenience, and health benefits. However, they might present a potentially high health risk to consumers during transportation, processing, and marketing. In the current study, 18 essential oils (EOs) were screened to test their antimicrobial activity against Listeria monocytogenes (LM), Salmonella typhimurium (ST), Staphylococcus aureus (SA), and Escherichia coli O157:H7 (EC O157:H7). The antibacterial effectiveness of a chitosan edible coating (EC) containing cinnamon oil was evaluated against microorganisms on fresh-cut potatoes. Fresh-cut potatoes were treated with chitosan EC and chitosan EC containing different concentrations (0, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6%, v/v) of cinnamon oil, and uncoated samples served as the control. The viability of naturally occurring microorganisms and artificially inoculated LM on fresh-cut potatoes was evaluated, as were the colour, weight loss, and firmness of potatoes, every 4 days for a total of 16 days at 4 °C. The results demonstrate that the inhibition zones of cinnamon, oregano, and pomelo oils were 16.33–30.47 mm, 22.01–31.31 mm, and 21.75–35.18 mm, respectively. The cinnamon oil exhibits the lowest MIC (0.313 μL/mL) for four foodborne pathogens compared with oregano and pomelo oils. The chitosan EC containing 0.2% cinnamon oil effectively maintains the quality of fresh-cut potatoes including inhibiting the browning, preventing the weight loss, and maintaining the firmness. The decline of total plate counts, yeast and mould counts, total coliform counts, lactic acid bacteria count, and Listeria monocytogenes in EC containing 0.2% cinnamon oil were 2.14, 1.92, 0.98, 0.73, and 1.94 log cfu/g, respectively. Therefore, the use of chitosan EC containing cinnamon oil might be a promising approach for the preservation of fresh-cut potatoes.