Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology, Ludhiana-141 001, India
*Present Address: K.V.K., Sangrur, Punjab, India.
Online published on 4 September, 2012.
The respiratory behavior of minimally processed carrots, was determined polypropylene (PP) packaging film (Gas permeability coefficients; 4.14 x 10−14 ml.cm.cm−2.s−1.Pa−1 for O2 and 1.45 x 10−13 ml.cm.cm−2.s−1.Pa−1 for CO2 at 15°C and 75% RH) was selected for experiment of shelf-life extension under modified atmosphere conditions. The peeled and diced carrots were packed into PP film packages (bag area: 0.17 m−2, 35 μm thickness) having 2, 4, 6, 8 number of perforations (0.3 mm dia. each) and non-perforated, and the weight of samples packed was 500 g each. During storage at 15°C and 75% relative humidity (RH) in a cold room, various modified atmospheres were created by different number of perforations in packages. The observations included rate of respiration, gaseous composition of micro-atmosphere, physiological loss in weight and several biochemical characteristics affecting the final quality of the produce. At steady state, value of respiration rates for O2 and CO2 were 50.73 ml.kg−1.h−1 and 21.93 ml.kg−1.h−1, respectively. Results showed that packages having 2 macro-holes with 500 g quantity better maintained their overall quality and could be successfully stored for 15 days without adversely affecting the quality with final gaseous composition stabilized around 8.40% O2 and 7.80% CO2.
Modified atmosphere packaging, Minimally processed carrot, Daucus carota, Permeability coefficient, Respiration rate, Polypropylene (PP) film package, Perforations
