title: Effect of non-thermal hurdles in extending shelf life of cut apples.
abstract: Pulsed electric fields (PEF), high pressure processing (HPP) and conventional method of heating (90 °C, 60s) were evaluated as blanching methods for fresh cut apples. The settings employed for PEF and HPP were 1.5 kV/cm, 100 pulses, 4 Hz and 600 MPa for 2 min respectively. The blanched samples were soaked in sucrose solution (60°Brix, 60 min) containing ascorbic acid, citric acid, sodium benzoate, and potassium sorbate. The treated samples were packed and pasteurized using either hot water (90 °C, 15 min) or HPP (600 MPa, 10 min). These samples were analyzed for physicochemical and microbiological attributes immediately after treatment and after 2 months of cold storage. The combination of different hurdles in all groups completely inhibited microbial growth. However, in terms of color values and texture retention, the apple cuts treated with PEF followed by hot water pasteurization were of a better quality when compared to HPP pasteurized ones (P < 0.05).
authors.affiliation: German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL), Quakenbrück, 49610 Germany.
authors.forename: Shima
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shayanfar
authors.affiliation: Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysore, 570011 India.
authors.forename: O P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Chauhan
authors.affiliation: German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL), Quakenbrück, 49610 Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toepfl
authors.affiliation: German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL), Quakenbrück, 49610 Germany.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Heinz
keywords: Apple; High pressure processing; Hurdle; Pulsed electric fields; Shelf life