Improvement of Shelf-life and Quality in Fresh-Cut Tomato Slices:
- Hong Ji Heun
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- 한국식품저장유통학회:학술대회논문집
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- 한국식품저장유통학회 2004년도 총회및 심포지움
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- pp.67-72
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- 2004
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Quality of fresh-cut tomato slices was compared during cold storage under various modified atmosphere packaging conditions. Chilling injury of slices in containers sealed with Film A was higher than with Film B; these films had oxygen transmission rates of 87.4 and 60.0 ml
$h^{-1}\;m^{-2}\;atm^{-1}$ at$5^{\circ}C\;and\;99\%$ RH, respectively. While slices in containers with an initial atmospheric composition of air,$4\%\;CO_2+1\;or\;20\%\;O_2,\;8\%\;CO_2+1\;or\;20\%\;O_2,\;or\;12\%\;CO_2+20\%\;O_2$ showed fungal growth, slices in containers with$12\%\;CO_2+1\%\;O_2$ did not. Low ethylene in containers enhanced chilling injury. Modified atmosphere packaging provided good quality tomato slices with a shelf-life of 2 weeks or more at$5^{\circ}C$ . Experiments were conducted to compare changes in quality of slices of red tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. 'Sunbeam') fruit from plants grown using black polyethylene or hairy vetch mulches under various foliar disease management systems including: no fungicide applications (NF), a disease forecasting model (Tom-Cast), and weekly fungicide applications (WF), during storage at$5^{\circ}C$ under a modified atmosphere. Slices were analyzed for firmness, soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), pH, electrolyte leakage, fungi, yeasts, and chilling injury. With both NF and Tom-Cast fungicide treatments, slices from tomato fruit grown with hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) mulch were firmer than those from tomato fruit grown with black polyethylene mulch after 12 days storage. Ethylene production of slices from fruit grown using hairy vetch mulch under Tom-Cast was about 1.5- and 5-fold higher than that of slices from WF and NF fungicide treatments after 12 days, respectively. The percentage of water-soaked areas (chilling injury) for slices from tomato fruit grown using black polyethylene mulch under NF was over 7-fold that of slices from tomato fruit grown using hairy vetch under Tom-Cast. When stored at$20^{\circ}C$ , slices from light-red tomato fruit grown with black polyethylene or hairy vetch mulches both showed a rapid increase in electrolyte leakage beginning 6 hours after slicing. However, slices from tomato fruit grown using the hairy vetch mulch tended to have lower electrolyte leakage than those grown with black polyethylene mulch. These results suggest that tomato fruit from plants grown using hairy vetch mulch may be more suitable for fresh-cut slices than those grown using black polyethylene mulch. Also, use of the disease forecasting model Tom-Cast, which can result in lower fungicide application than is currently used commercially, resulted in high quality fruit for fresh-cut processing. Experiments were conducted to determine if ethylene influences chilling injury, as measured by percentage of slices exhibiting water-soaked areas in fresh-cut tomato slices of 'Mountain Pride' and 'Sunbeam' tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). Ethylene concentration in containers without ventilation significantly increased during storage at$5^{\circ}C$ , whereas little or no accumulation of ethylene occurred in containers with one or six perforations. Chilling injury was greatest for slices in containers with six perforations, compared to slices in containers with one perforation, and was over 13-fold greater than that of slices in control containers with no perforations. An experiment was also performed to investigate the effectiveness of including an ethylene absorbent pad in containers on subsequent ethylene accumulation and chilling injury. While ethylene in the no-pad controls increased continually during storage of both 'Mountain Pride' and 'Sunbeam' tomatoes at$5^{\circ}C$ under modified atmosphere conditions, no increase in accumulation of ethylene was observed in containers containing ethylene absorbent pads throughout storage. The ethylene absorbent pad treatment resulted in a significantly higher percentage of chilling injury compared with the no-pad control. In studies aimed at inhibiting ethylene production using AVG during storage of slices, the concentration of ethylene in control containers (no AVG) remained at elevated levels throughout storage, compared to containers with slices treated with AVG. Chilling injury in slices treated with AVG was 5-fold greater than that of controls. Further, we tested the effect of ethylene pretreatment of slices on subsequent slice shelf-life and quality. In slices treated with ethylene (0, 0.1, 1, or$10\;{mu}L\;L^{-1}$ ) immediately after slicing, ethylene production in non-treated controls was greater than that of all other ethylene pre-treatments. However, pretreatment of slices 3 days after slicing resulted in a different pattern of ethylene production during storage. Ihe rate of ethylene production by slices treated with 1 L$L^{-1}$ ethylene 3 days after slicing was greater during storage than any of the other ethylene treatments. With slices pre-treated with ethylene, both immediately and 3 days after slicing, the rate of ethylene production tended to show an negative correlation with chilling injury. Chemical name used: 1-aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG).