Abstract:
Papaya fruit is an excellent source of vitamin C, carotene, minerals and
other nutrients. The fruits are susceptible to decay and spoilage due to their
perishability. Therefore, proper preservation techniques need to be adapted
to extend the shelf life of papaya fruits. Accordingly, a research was
conducted to assess the effect of different food preservatives on the quality
and shelf life of papaya fruit bars. Ripened papaya fruit pulp, sugar, citric
acid and 5% corn flour mixture was heated to get the Total Soluble Solids
(TSS) content of 50˚Brix. The pulp was cooled and 1000 ppm of three
different preservatives such as sodium benzoate, potassium metabisulphite
and potassium sorbate were added separately. The blend was spread into
2cm layer and dried in a solar oven at 50˚C for 20 hours. The dried pulp
was cooled, cut into rectangular bars and stored in plastic boxes at 30˚C and
75-80% RH for 6 weeks. The fruit bars were subjected to nutritional and
sensory evaluations at weekly intervals during storage. Nutritional analysis
revealed that there was a declining trend in ascorbic acid, total soluble solid
and total sugar and an increasing trend in titrable acidity during storage.
Fruit bar treated with potassium metabisulphite showed high retention of
nutritional parameters such as 0.64% titrable acidity, 51.8 mg/100g ascorbic
acid, 10.1˚Brix as total soluble solid and 25.1% total sugar at the end of the
storage period. Sensory evaluation showed that the papaya fruit bar
preserved with potassium metabisulphite had the highest overall
acceptability compared to other treatments. Based on the results of this
study, papaya fruit bar could be preserved using 1000 ppm of potassium
metabisulphite for period of 6 weeks without any significant changes in the
quality attributes.
