**4. Conclusions**

Edible coatings exhibited a positive effect on papaya shelf life kept at room temperature, preserving its properties during a longer storage time than uncoated fruits. Coating helped to provide larger papaya pulp firmness, indicating that uncoated papaya reached a final stage of ripening after 5 days, whereas the coated fruit reached this stage after 15 days at room temperature. Volatile compounds characteristic of papaya fermentation, such as ethyl butanoate, appeared after 5 days, whereas coated fruits generated it after 10 d. In addition, butyric acid generation was about 10 times higher in uncoated than in coated papayas throughout the 15 days of storage. Images of papaya surfaces with edible coating showed higher homogeneity values than the uncoated fruit at all storage times. Microbial population of papaya surfaces decreased during storage in the coated fruits, whereas the opposite occurred in uncoated papayas. Therefore, this coating can successfully increase papaya shelf life.

**Supplementary Materials:** The following are available online at http://www.mdpi.com/2079-6412/8/9/318/s1, Figure S1: Color development during storage of uncoated papaya, Figure S2: Color development during storage of coated papaya.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, M.E.-G.; Methodology, M.J.R.-H. and L.F.D.-S.; Visualization, H.M.H.-H.; Validation, B.E.G.-A. and A.A.-R.; Writing-Review & Editing, C.R.-G.

**Funding:** This research was financed through the project CB-166751 from CONACyT, and AMEXCID, SRE, File B/ITA/17/001, Mexico. The publication fee was funded by Programa para el Desarrollo Profesional Docente de la Secretaría de Educación Pública of Mexico.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors also wish to thank the Centro de Investigación en Ciencia Aplicada y Tecnología Avanzada (CICATA) for providing the facilities for this research work and for technical assistance.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
