Quality of minimally processed, modified atmosphere stored bell pepper, as affected by pre-treatments

Abstract

Minimally processed bell pepper strips stored at 8-100C for seven days were evaluated for variation in color, in package gases, firmness, physicochemical sensory and microbiological quality. Bell pepper strips were treated with sodium chloride, calcium chloride, sodium chloride+calcium chloride or distilled water (control) and packed in polystyrene packages before storage. Pretreatments did not drastically affect the physicochemical properties (titratable acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS) and pH) when compared to the control. A slight discoloration of bell pepper was evident, indicated by decreasing L*, a* and b* values. Variations in firmness were observed. Fairly high level of CO2 accumulation was evident inside packages where O2 concentration displayed a declining trend. Sensory attributes generally declined with time but were within acceptable limits. Microbial counts were within safe-to-consume limits for all samples within the storage period. All pretreatments tested had no drastic effect on sensory properties and maintained low microbial counts, however 1% sodium chloride pretreatment was more successful in retaining higher sensory properties and maintaining lower microbial counts by the end of storage period than the other pretreatments