Postharvest quality of refrigerated tomato fruit (solanum lycopersicum, cv. zinac) at two maturity stages following heat treatment

Joaquina Pinheiro, Carla Alegria, Marta Abreu, Manuela Sol, Elsa M. Gonçalves, Cristina L. M. Silva*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)
13 Downloads

Abstract

This study evaluated the effect of water heat treatment (WHT, immersion in a water bath at 40C - 30min) application in alternative to the conventional decontamination treatment of chlorinated water (150ppm at 5C, pH 6.5 during 2min) on tomato (cv. Zinac) at two maturity stages (turning and pink). Physiochemical attributes, enzymatic activities and microbial load were evaluated after treatments and during 14days of storage at 10C. The WHT applied was very effective on microbial reduction and delayed physiochemical changes of tomato, namely firmness loss and red color development during storage period, especially at turning maturity stage. Based on the firmness parameter, shelf-life of control and WHT samples were determined. Our results provide strong evidence that postharvest WHT (40C - 30min) for tomato fruits at turning maturity stage guarantees the overall quality at 10C twice as long of fruits washed with chlorinated water.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)697-709
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of Food Processing and Preservation
Volume39
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2015

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Postharvest quality of refrigerated tomato fruit (solanum lycopersicum, cv. zinac) at two maturity stages following heat treatment'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this