• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.619-624
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• 2016

Chlorine dioxide ($ClO_2$) gas treatment (75 ppmv, 30 min) has been suggested to improve the microbial safety of postharvest paprika in a previous study. Based on these results, in this study, an additional combined treatment using low-concentration $ClO_2$ gas-generating sticks (3 ppmv) in paprika samples during storage was carried out at $8^{\circ}C$ and 90% relative humidity to further enhance the quality and reduce the decay rate of paprika for the purpose of lengthy storage. After the combined treatment, the initial populations of total aerobic bacteria as well as yeast and molds in the paprika samples decreased by 3.04 and 2.70 log CFU/g, respectively, compared with those of the control samples, and this microbial inactivation was maintained by the low-concentration $ClO_2$ gas-generating sticks during storage. In particular, the decay rate of samples with combined treatment was significantly lower than that of the control. Vitamin C content, hardness, and color quality parameters of paprika samples were not altered by treatment, while weight loss of the samples treated with the combined $ClO_2$ gas was lower than that of the control during storage. These results indicate that the combination of two different $ClO_2$ gas treatments is effective for retaining the quality of paprika during prolonged storage.