Effect of individual vacuum and modified atmosphere packaging on shelf life of guava

Abstract

The physico-chemical changes occurring continuously in climacteric fruit guava, leads to heavy post harvest losses. Therefore the present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of individual packaging through Vacuum and Modified atmosphere packaging on shelf life of guava. Fruits were individually packed in polythene bags (LDPE) of 200 gauge thickness by Vacuum packaging and modified atmosphere packaging and stored at 7±3°C. Both individual packaging methods were equally effective in reducing the biochemical changes during storage. The decrease in flesh firmness of the fruits was rapid and progressive in unwrapped control fruits but in individually packed fruits, the decrease was slower. Individually wrapped fruits retained higher ascorbic acid and acidity. Vacuum packing and MA though showed minimum PLW and ripening but suffered from the drawback that fruits remained hard and unripened and scored low organoleptically.