Tropentag, October 5 - 7, 2011 in Bonn "Development on the margin"

Minimal Processing Application to Extend Shelf-life and Preserve Quality of Fresh-cut Pineapples

Jenderal Soedirman University, Department of Food Science and Technology, Indonesia

Abstract

Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is an exotic tropical fruit which is popular due to its sweet-sour taste and high nutrition content, especially vitamin C. Most of people prefer to consume fresh pineapples, although pineapple-based products are available diversely. The consumption of fresh-cut fruits usually faces some limitations because they are perishable substances, susceptible for discolouration, texture softening as well as nutrition losses. Therefore, additional treatments are required for extending shelf-life of fresh-cut fruits. Minimal processing is a technique in food production to provide sufficient shelf-life and preserve the fresh-like quality as well. The simple and inexpensive process is considered as an appropriate method to provide fresh-cut pineapples by small-scale industry. The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of immersion in calcium chloride and ascorbic acid solutions on the chemical and sensory properties of fresh-cut pineapples during storage.
Ripe-stage pineapples were harvested from the farmers' fields in Pemalang, a centre of pineapples production in Central Java, Indonesia. The fruits were peeled, trimmed and cut into 8 slices of edible parts. Fresh-cut pineapples were immersed in the 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 % of calcium chloride solutions and in the 200, 300, and 400 ppm of ascorbic acids solutions, respectively. They were then stored in the refrigerator (12-15°C) and investigated every 4 days during storage. Fresh-cut pineapples without treatments were also performed as a control. Sensory analysis of 4-point scale with 15 assessors was conducted to evaluate colour, texture, flavour and overall impression. The chemical properties determined were moisture, total sugars, and vitamin C content.
The results showed that all samples from the treatments were still acceptable after being stored for 8-days which was longer than for the control. Storage for 12-days was not recommended due to significant changing in the sensory properties. Discolouration and texture degradation contributed significantly to the assessors' impression. Immersion in ascorbic acid solution maintained vitamin C content during storage. Moreover, there were no significant effects on moisture and total sugars content during 8-days storage.
Therefore, this additional procedure can be recommended to small-scale industry on providing fresh-cut pineapples.

Keywords: Fresh-cut pineapple, minimal processing

Contact Address: Condro Wibowo, Jenderal Soedirman University, Department of Food Science and Technology, Jl. dr. Soeparno, 53122 Purwokerto, Indonesia, e-mail: cwibowo2yahoo.com