Strawberries have a very short post-harvest life mostly due to their relatively high water content, intense metabolic activity and susceptibility to microbial rot. Antimicrobial low-density polyethylene nanocomposite fi lms containing ZnO nanoparticles at diff erent mass fractions were prepared by melt mixing and followed by compression moulding using a hot press machine. Fresh strawberries were packed in nanocomposite fi lms and stored at 4 °C. Their microbial stability, ascorbic acid content and titratable acidity were evaluated aft er 0, 4, 8, 12 and 16 days of storage. Microbial growth rate was signifi cantly reduced up to 16 days as a result of the use of nanocomposite packaging material containing ZnO nanoparticles. By increasing the ZnO nanoparticle mass fraction to 5 %, the antimicrobial activity of the fi lm increased. All packages containing the ZnO nanoparticles kept the microbial load of fresh strawberries below the level that aff ects shelf life (5 log CFU/g) up to 16 days. The lowest degradation of ascorbic acid content (6.55 mg per 100 g), and loss of acidity (0.68 %) were observed in packages containing 3 % of ZnO nanoparticles with 10 % polyethylene-graft ed maleic anhydride.
