Effect of antioxidants and packaging on quality of banana chips

Natural antioxidants like sodium ascorbate and tocopherol acetate at 0.01% and dried curry leaf powder at 0.02% were incorporated into ‘Nendran banana’ chips and packed in laminated and LDPE pouches to evaluate and compare the effect of antioxidants and packaging materials on the rancidity problem of banana chips, to delay the onset of oxidation during storage and to enhance shelf-life of packed product.. All antioxidant treated chips had superior physical and chemical quality parameters compared to untreated chips, indicating the superiority and advantage of antioxidant treatment. Among the treated chips, chips produced after incorporating dried curry leaf powder in oil had better physical (integrity, 94.5 and crispness, 6.32), chemical (peroxide value, 3.88 and iodine value, 12.52) and sensory characters, which are retained in storage too. There was an increase in moisture content, free fatty acid value and peroxide value and decrease in iodine value of chips during storage upto 3 months at ambient conditions. Quality degradation was slower in chips stored laminated pouches compared to in LDPE packaging.