Potential of chitosan from mushroom waste to enhance quality and storability of fresh-cut melons

•Fungal chitosan was produced from champignon stipe offcuts and caps.•Higher yield was accepted from a stipe offcuts, the mushroom industry waste.•Fungal chitosan’s antimicrobial activity is similar to that of the animal sourced one.•Fungal chitosan edible coatings improved physiological and microbial quality of fresh-cut melon.•Fungal chitosan coatings showed higher affinity to fruit than the animal-sourced ones. The possibility of usage mushroom industry wastage, as a source of antimicrobial biopolymer chitosan to form active edible coatings was studied. It was found that the champignon stipe, an underutilized part of the mushroom, gave rise to a higher chitosan yield than caps (176 vs. 105 mg/g). Fungal chitosan caused a total growth inhibition of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast and Escherichia coli bacteria at concentrations of 1% and 2%, respectively. The fungal chitosan-based edible coatings were applied on fresh-cut melons and found to enhance fruit firmness, inhibit off-flavors and reduce the microbial counts (up to 4 log CFU/g). Volatiles profile showed the coated melons have a higher content of esters responsible for fruit flavor (79.93% and 57.15% for fungal chitosan coated melon and uncoated melon, respectively). This study demonstrates that waste from the mushroom industry can be utilized for the production of non-animal sourced chitosan to form active edible coatings.