Postharvest quality of cherry tomatoes coated with mucilage from dragon fruit and irradiated with UV-C
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2021
Abstract
Cherry tomatoes are climacteric fruits that have a limited shelf life. Over the years, many methods have been applied to preserve the fruit quality and safety of these fruits. In this study, a novel method of combining mucilage from dragon fruits and UV-C irradiation was carried out. Cherry tomatoes were subjected to UV-C irradiation and edible coating, both as a stand-alone and hurdle treatment. The edible coating was prepared from the mucilage of white dragon fruits. Quality parameters including color, weight loss, total soluble solids, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, antioxidant analysis (total phenolic content and flavonoid content), and microbial analysis were measured throughout 21 days of storage at 4 degrees C. Results showed that the hurdle treatment extended shelf life by 21 days, reduced weight loss (0.87 +/- 0.05%) and color changes (11.61 +/- 0.95 Delta E), and inhibited microbes better than stand-alone treatments. Furthermore, fruits treated with the combination of UV-C and edible coating also contained higher total polyphenol content (0.132 +/- 0.003 mg GAE/100 mL), total flavonoid content (13.179 +/- 0.002 mg CE/100 mL), and ascorbic acid (1.07 +/- 0.06 mg/100 mL). These results show that the combination of UV-C and edible coating as a hurdle treatment could be an innovative method to preserve shelf life and quality of fruits.
Keywords
Cold storage, Edible coating, Mucilage, Postharvest shelf life, Cherry tomato, Microbial analysis
Divisions
cebar
Funders
Cytonex Sdn Bhd (RU006-2018)
Publication Title
Polymers
Volume
13
Issue
17
Publisher
MDPI
Publisher Location
ST ALBAN-ANLAGE 66, CH-4052 BASEL, SWITZERLAND