Bacterial Cellulose Production from Agro-Industrial Waste for Food-Grade Edible Coating: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Food losses after harvesting amounting to 1.3 billion tonnes each year pose a threat to achieving
the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 12
(Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and
Infrastructure). Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a purified and crystallized extracellular
polysaccharide with excellent mechanical properties and barrier behavior applicable as a food
coating. Despite these benefits, wider application of BC in the food industry remains limited due
to high production costs in Hestrin-Schramm medium cultivation technology. This paper
addresses a research gap in the bibliography on BC production optimization for edible coating
development, focusing not only on production yield but on other relevant aspects. Bibliometric
analysis based on the Scopus database of indexed papers from 2014 to 2026 using the
Bibliometrix R-package was performed. Through narrative synthesis based on a novel
production-property-performance (PPP) framework, this research proves that fermentation
conditions during the initial phase of BC production play a key role in determining coating-
related properties such as crystallinity index, moisture permeation rate, and film-forming ability.
Ideal fermentation conditions include Komagataeibacter bacteria, stationary culture, fruit-
derived waste material, a temperature of 28–30°C, pH 5.5–6.5, yielding crystallinity indices of
70–90%.