Modified Atmosphere Packaging of Guava Fruit

Abstract

Fully matured fresh guava fruits (Lucknow-49) were precooled at 10°C for 1 h and pretreated with 500-ppm benomyl for 5 min. The fruits were packed in 25-μm and 50-μm LDPE bags with active modified atmosphere packaging of 3% O 2 + 5% CO 2 , 6% O 2 + 5% CO 2 and 9% O 2 + 5% CO 2 gas concentrations and stored at 5 ± 1°C and 10 ± 1°C temperatures as well as non-packaged as control. The shelf life of guava could be increased up to 42 days by packaging in 50-μm LDPE bags with a gas concentration of 9% O 2 + 5% CO 2 and stored at 10°C without much change in physical, biochemical and sensory characteristics. Physico-chemical changes viz., PLW, pulp to peel ratio, firmness, TSS, total sugar, ascorbic acid and titratable acidity were observed minimum for fruits packed in 50-μm LDPE bags at 3% O 2 + 5% CO 2 gas concentration at 5°C storage temperature, but sensory score decreased drastically after 21 days of storage. Chilling injury was observed for the fruits packed at 5°C storage temperature after 21 days of storage, and it was severe in 25-μm LDPE bag at later stage. Control fruits over-ripened with the highest weight loss (12.47%) on 6 days of storage and discarded from the storage.

Effect of Pre-Treatments on Biochemical and Microbial Parameters of Guava Fruit during storage

“…These results are in conformity with the results reported by Antala et al (2014) in guava. Table 1 Effect of different pre-treatments on overall acceptability of guava fruit during storage…”

Active packaging technology to retain storage quality of pear cv. “Bartlett” during shelf‐life periods under ambient holding after periodic cold storage

“…PPO catalyzes the oxidation of monophenol and diphenol to o ‐quinones, which polymerize to produce brown pigments, which can also be a possible reason for the decrease in total phenol content of fruits. The fruits packed in LDPE bags along with KMnO 4 and Fe powder sachets recorded higher total phenol contents, which might be due to reduction in passage of O 2 through sealed LDPE film bags; further reduction in O 2 level within the bags by Fe powder sachets in presence of water might have reduced O 2 in to Fe 2 O 3 and scrubbing off of ethylene from the storage environment by KMnO 4 that slows down the ripening changes, which have been confirmed by various authors 43–45 …”

“…Further, if the packaging system is well designed, the equilibrium composition is very close to the optimum required for maximizing product shelf life. At the same time, use of KMnO 4 and Fe powder in conjunction with modified atmosphere storage in PE bags might have resulted in scrubbing off of excess of O 2 , which is essential for initiation of the enzyme system (PME and PG) and ethylene generated by fruits, which might also be an additional possible reason for the decrease in respiration 44,45 …”

Innovative processes and technologies for modified atmosphere packaging of fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables

“…Recent applications of MAP have been effective for both climacteric fruits such as avocado (Sellamuthu et al, 2013), breadfruit (Roopa et al, 2015) and figs (Villalobos et al, 2014), and non-climacteric fruits such as pineapples (Finnegan et al, 2013), cherries (Colgecen and Aday, 2015), and oranges (Barrios et al, 2014). In general, for climacteric fruits, slowing respiration and ripening are the crucial functions of MAP, particularly for highly perishable fruits such as guava (Antala et al, 2015) and mango (Ramayya et al, 2012). Conversely, for both minimally processed non-climacteric fruits and vegetables, the role of MAP in preventing oxidative browning and the growth of microbial pathogens is of greater importance than slowing respiration and ripening processes (Horev et al, 2012).…”