Abstract
Comparative effects of phosphine fumigation and gamma irradiation were evaluated on the qualities of white ginseng prepacked in a commercial laminated film in terms of water absorption, Hunter color parameters(L, a, b) and organoleptic properties(overall color/appearance, flavor) during 6 months of storage at ambient(20oC, 70% RH) and accelerated(40oC, 90% RH) conditions. Moisture content of packed white ginseng(initial 8.44%) linearly increased with storage period, thereby reaching to about 10% (r=0.9966) in ambient and more than 15%(r=0.9886) in accelerated conditions, respectively, at the 6th month of storage. The storage at severe conditions resulted in remarkable changes in Hunter's color values, decrease in whiteness(L) and increase in redness(a) and yellowness(b), while both treatments, phosphine and irradiation less than 5kGy, did not cause any significant changes in color parameters. Phosphine fumigation was shown detrimental to overall flavor of white ginseng(p<0.01), however or ganoleptic qualities of stored samples were effectively maintained by irradiation less than 5kGy(p< 0.05). As the index on the guality of white ginseng stored at severe conditions its organoleptic quality was highly correlated with moisture content(r= 0.9777) and Hunter color values(over 0.9), suggesting the critical values of 15.5% moisture and 72.56, 7.15, 21.45 in Hunter's L, a, b values, respectively.