Projecte llegit

Títol: The use of Opuntia ficus-indica mucilage edible coating to extend the shelf-life of packaged strawberry and red raspberry

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Tutor/Cotutor: ACHAERANDIO PUENTE, MARIA ISABEL

Departament: DEAB

Títol: The use of Opuntia ficus-indica mucilage edible coating to extend the shelf-life of packaged strawberry and red raspberry

Data inici oferta: 31-01-2020      Data finalització oferta: 30-09-2020

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Estudis d'assignació del projecte:

MU MKET4FOOD+BIO

Lloc de realització:
EEABB

Paraules clau:
Fragaria × ananassa, Rubus idaeus, postharvest, packaging, fruit quality

Descripció del contingut i pla d'activitats:
Edible coatings are a promising emerging technology to extend the shelf-life of food. In this research work, the development and application of an edible coating made from Opuntia ficus-indica extract will be studied.
In a first step the mucilage will be obtained from the plant and then the second step will evaluate the effect of the edible coating in the quality, respiration rate and shelf-life of strawberries.

Overview (resum en anglès): Rapid loss of quality and decay causes economic loss of strawberries and raspberries after harvest. The effects of an edible coating based on mucilage solution of
Opuntia ficus-indica cladodes on the quality of packaged strawberries and raspberries were studied during their shelf-life. After treatment, decay index, weight
loss, respiration rate, color characteristics, total soluble solids content, pH, total
phenolics content, and antioxidant activity were recorded on 3, 7, 9, 11, 13, and
15 days of storage at 2 ± 2°C and were compared with uncoated fruit. Due to the
sealed packaging used for the fruits, the weight loss and decay percentage were
greatly reduced. Because of the total phenolic content available in the cactus mucilage, coated fruit had a higher total phenolic content compared to the control.
Coating also reduced the decay index in raspberries, and coated raspberries did
not show any decay incidents in 15 days of storage. The combination of the packaging and coating used proved effective in improving the post-harvest shelf-life of
strawberries and raspberries up to 15 days in cold-storage.

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