Demand for fresh‐cut fruit and vegetables is increasing, in the face of global population growth and new interest in plant‐based diets. At the same time, year‐round supply across the world of popular vegetables means that post‐harvest losses, which can be significant, need to be minimized in the face of complex global supply chains and markets. Sweet corn (Zea mays L.) is harvested before physiological maturity when the kernel has high water and sugar concentrations making it a very perishable fresh produce and effective post‐harvest handling essential to reduce losses and ensure quality. Taste, aroma and colour are the main customer‐appreciated characteristics, hence the most important to preserve. Among the sweet corn post‐harvest disorders, loss of sweetness, dehydration, fungal growth and post‐cooking browning are the biggest issues impacting sweet corn quality, leading to post‐harvest losses. The critical factor driving these losses in sweet corn is temperature. Sweet corn is not a chilling sensitive product and has high sugar content. For this reason, temperatures as close as 0°C and the appropriate use of packaging films to create an altered gas composition with high CO2 and low O2 concentrations can significantly prevent post‐harvest decay. The use of low temperatures and effective choice of appropriate packaging films can control sweet corn respiration rates and prevent microorganism growth, subsequently delaying quality loss. This comprehensive review assembles a description of the most customer‐appreciated sweet corn characteristics. And it describes the major sweet corn post‐harvest challenges and provides a summary of four approaches to improve post‐harvest quality in this popular fresh‐cut vegetable.
Sweet corn (Zea mays L.) is a grain harvested before maturity and consumed as a vegetable. An optimal supply chain, to preserve sugars and antioxidant (AO) capacity is essential to maintain quality of sweet corn. The choice of packaging film plays an essential role, especially in products with a high respiration rate such as sweet corn. Sweet corn grown on a commercial farm in Senegal was sampled at the harvest day, at the UK arrival date following 12-14 d of shipping (packaging date), at the best before date (BBD) and five days after the best before date. The results showed that high quality preservation of sweet corn is possible along a complex supply chain from harvest in Senegal through transport to the UK. Results suggested that lower perforation films have a beneficial role in preserving antioxidant capacity. Furthermore, damaged kernels in the cut-ends of the cobs were shown to be the main factor reducing the overall quality of the product.
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