In the present study, we examined the efficacy of a newly devel-oped polysaccharide-based CMC/chitosan bilayer edible coating in maintaining postharvest quality of various citrus fruit: ‘Or’ and‘Mor’ mandarins, ‘Navel’ oranges, and ‘Star Ruby’ grapefruit. Ourfindings showed that this new bilayer coating met most of theindicated requirements for edible coatings. First, the CMC/chitosanbilayer coating was water resistant and maintained its stabilityduring exposure to cold storage and shelf-life conditions (Fig. 1).Second, it did not promote excessive CO2build-up or cause anaer-obic conditions in the internal atmosphere of the fruit (Fig. 3). Third,it improved gloss and appearance (Fig. 1). Fourth, it was not stickyand dried well. Fifth, it maintained the flavor quality of orangesand grapefruit, but somewhat impaired that of mandarins. Sixth, itcovered the fruit surface adequately, and, being based on polysac-charide materials, it is quite inexpensive and economical in use.Seventh, it forms a homogenous, translucent coating