The effects of gaseous ozone and chlorine on quality and shelf life of minimally processed red pepper

Abstract:

Microbial contamination is one of the main causes of bell pepper decay during storage. Fresh-cut red peppers were washed with chlorinated water (200 ppm) or treated with 0,7 ppm ozone for 1, 3 and 5 minutes. Untreated fruits were used as a control. Peppers were packaged in air and stored at 10°C for 14 days. Weight loss, gas composition, pH, colour, firmness and microbial quality were evaluated. Weight loss was negligible in all the treatments. O2 concentration decreased and CO2 levels increased continuously, with no differences between treatments on any of the evaluation dates, for the ozonated samples. With chlorine, changes in the gas composition were more accentuated in the treated samples. By day 14, pH values increased and a significant softening was observed in all the fruits. No differences were observed between the control and the ozonated samples for the physicochemical parameters studied. In contrast, chlorinated peppers lost more firmness with increasing washing time. Color was not affected by O3 immediately after the treatment and no surface discoloration was observed. In both, chlorinated and O3-treated fruits, lower values of L and an increase in ohue and chroma values were observed after storage. O3 reduced the counts of the yeasts and moulds and aerobic mesophilic and psychrotrophic bacteria. On the other hand, chlorine was not effective to reduce aerobic mesophilic bacteria counts. For yeasts and moulds and psychrotrophic bacteria, the best results were obtained washing for 1 minute. Our results indicate that O3 was more effective than chlorine to reduce microbial counts and did not cause any physiological damage to the fruits. Combined with modified atmosphere, this treatment could be used to extend the shelf-life of minimally processed red bell peppers.

Año de publicación:

2010

Keywords:

• Capsicum Annuum
• Cold storage
• Minimally processed

Fuente:

scopus