Improved functionality of food additives with electrostatic coating

French fries were coated with smoke extract or glucose and mozzarella cheese slices with sodium erythorbate or cellulose with natamyacin at 0 kV and -25 kV For the first three samples, transfer efficiency was higher for electrostatically coated products. When the same amount of powder on each sample was compared, electrostatically coated samples showed a greater color development and less mold growth than nonelectrostatically coated samples. This improvement in color and shelf life could be explained by improvement in coating evenness due to the charging of the powder. Cellulose with natamyacin did not show an improvement in transfer efficiency, mold suppression or charge to mass ratio with electrostatic coating. This powder did not charge well because it was cohesive and of the wrong polarity. The smaller the size of the powder, the greater the charge to mass ratio and final color development. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.