Chemical, sensory and microbiological characteristics of active packaged peach fruits

Abstract

Peaches are known for their palatable flavour and abundant nutrients. However, peaches are perishable, and the existing preservation techniques for peaches are still immature. Therefore, to extend the shelf life and prevent nutrient loss of perishable peaches experiment was conducted to find out the effect of active packaging and different levels of ventilation on quality of peach fruits under refrigerated storage conditions. Peach (Prunus persica L.) fruits of cultivar “Shan-e- Punjab” were harvested at colour break stage and packed in thermocol trays wrapped with polypropylene (PP) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) bags comprising the following treatments : T1 (control), T2 (ethylene absorber + 0 perforation), T3 (ethylene absorber + 4 perforations), T4 (ethylene absorber + 8 perforations), T5 (oxygen absorber + 0 perforation), T6 (oxygen absorber + 4 perforations), T7 (oxygen absorber + 8 perforations), respectively. The packed fruits were stored under refrigerated conditions and analysed at regular interval of 7 days to ascertain the changes occurring in chemical, sensory and microbiological quality parameters. Total and reducing sugars increased upto 21 days of storage in both PP and LDPE packaging and thereafter decreased. T3 (ethylene absorber + 4 perforations) recorded the minimum mean reducing sugar content of 2.80 per cent in PP and 2.71 per cent in LDPE whereas, maximum total sugar of 8.36 per cent in PP and 8.24 per cent in LDPE and reducing sugar of 3.17 per cent in PP and 3.10 per cent in LDPE were observed in control (T1). Initially no microbial growth was observed in both the packaging materials upto 7 days whereas, after 28 days of storage highest mean microbial count of 4.29 x 104 and 5.00 x 104 CFU/g were recorded in treatment T1 (control) in PP and LDPE, respectively. On the basis of sensory scores T3 (ethylene absorber + 4 perforations) was rated best among all the treatments in both packaging materials. Overall, T3 (ethylene absorber + 4 perforations) was best suited active packaging to retain quality as well as reduce the spoilage of peach fruits during storage under refrigerated conditions.