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 (h ¼ 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 mm),
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