The varying DD of chitosan affected the weight loss profiles (Fig. 1vs. Fig. 2). The weight loss of banana coated with chitosan of 70% DD was higher compared to that of banana coated with 80% DD chitosan. The higher the DD value of chitosan, the higher the purity the chitosan. This helped improve the homogeneity of chitosan solution, thus
improving the quality of the resulting edible coating. Within the same specified DD of chitosan, the increase of chitosan concentration in the solution caused the decrease in weight loss (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). The increased of chitosan concentration in the edible coating could increase the barrier to the moisture loss. This seemed plausible since the increase in chitosan concentration would increase the firmness. The addition of TEA emulsifier TEA to the chitosan coating solution did not significantly affect the weight loss reduction. TEA was expected to improve the wettability of chitosan and increase the chitosan emulsion stability. This might be due to the incompatibility of TEA emulsifier with chitosan. Other additives were probably needed when combined with TEA emulsifier to improve the quality of chitosan coating.