The shelf life extension of fresh strawberries using an oxygen absorber in the biobased package

Oxygen absorbers are one of the most widely used materials in active packaging technology to extend shelf life of fruits. In this paper, effectiveness of two types of oxygen absorbers on quality of fresh strawberries is reported. Gas composition inside package, pH, total soluble solids, electrical conductivity, color, texture, decay incidence, sensory and FT-NIR analyses were performed during 4 weeks storage at 4 degrees C. After two weeks of storage, ATCO-100 (100 mL scavenging capacity) and ATCO-210 (210 mL scavenging capacity) saturated and in the third week of storage, 02 concentration increased to 6 kPa due to the 02 transmitted from outside to the inside package. Loss of total soluble solid, pH and electrical leakage were higher in the control strawberries than packaged with 02 absorbers. Strawberries packaged with oxygen absorbers had significantly higher L* and a* values as compared to control fruits. Absorbers had significant effect on maintaining firmness and mold reduction of strawberry. According to panelists, strawberries exposed to absorbers showed better scores than control for all attributes. FT-NIR spectra gave insightful information about water and carbohydrate content of strawberry. Results of this study confirm that the oxygen absorbers can be used to extend shelf life of fresh strawberry. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.