Controlled Atmosphere Storage and Edible Coating Effects on Storage Life and Quality of Tomatoes

Abstract

Tomatoes at pink stage maturities were coated with SemperfreshTM edible fruit coating which is composed of sucrose esters of fatty acids, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose and mono‐diglycerides of fatty acids. One group of coated and uncoated tomatoes were stored at 23 × 2C under air atmosphere, another group was stored at 12C under air atmosphere and third group was stored at 12C, 93–95% RH in a controlled atmosphere (CA) containing 3% CO2, 3% O2 and 94% N2. Samples of tomatoes were analyzed for firmness, weight loss, titratable acidity, pH, soluble solids, sugars, ascorbic acid and lycopene to examine changes in quality during storage. SemperfreshTM edible fruit coating was found to be significantly effective at both storage temperatures (23 × 2C and 12C) in air to delay changes in firmness, titratable acidity, pH, soluble solids, sugars, ascorbic acid and lycopene. SemperfreshTM fruit coating reduced fruit weight loss as compared to fruit without coating but the difference between coated and uncoated tomatoes was not significant. Shelf‐life of pink tomatoes was increased 3 days at 23 × 2C and 6 days at 12C in air by coating. CA storage delayed compositional changes in tomatoes significantly as compared to air storage of coated and uncoated tomatoes. CA storage also had a significant potential for reducing weight loss and microbial spoilage. Tomatoes were stored 40 days in CA. Coated and uncoated tomatoes exhibited the same results in CA.

Guar Gum as an Edible Coating for Enhancing Shelf-Life and Improving Postharvest Quality of Roma Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

“…On Figure 7, it can be seen that there were significant differences on appearance, flavor, firmness, and overall acceptability of C and UC tomatoes. Other authors report similar findings: the application of a coating helps maintain texture firmness [13,29,39], color, and flavor changes [2,13,38,39], on different products such as apples, and tomatoes, using several types of coatings at ambient temperature (22 ± 2 ∘ C). The scores given by the panelists to all the attributes were between 9 and 7, which is interpreted as "excellent" to "good."…”

“…In the same trial, higher values of TA were also reported in uncoated than in coated tomatoes. The higher TA values on uncoated samples than on coated ones were attributed to the loss of citric acid in tomatoes as fruit ripened [13,38]. …”

“…After 20 d, the C tomatoes had the lowest CO 2 production (2.8, mL kg −1 h −1 ) compared with the UC tomatoes (10.7, mL kg −1 h −1 ), indicating that coating might have modified the internal atmosphere and significantly delayed respiration rate of Roma tomatoes. Respiration rate in fresh fruit and vegetables is considered good index for determination of storage life [38]. The effect of polysaccharidebased coatings on respiration of horticultural products is related to their ability to create a barrier to oxygen diffusion through the coating [40].…”

“…The effect of polysaccharidebased coatings on respiration of horticultural products is related to their ability to create a barrier to oxygen diffusion through the coating [40]. In tomatoes, coatings based on gum arabic [38], alginate or zein [41], and hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) also reduced the fruit respiration rate during storage [7,42].…”

Effect of packaging and chemical treatment on storage life and physicochemical attributes of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill cv. Roma)

“…Weight loss of fresh tomato is primarily due to transpiration and respiration. Water is lost by transpiration due to differences in vapour pressure of water in atmosphere and tomato surface (Tasdelen and Bayindirli, 1998). Respiration causes weight reduction because a carbon atom is lost from the fruit each time a CO 2 molecule is produced from an absorbed oxygen molecule and evolved into the atmosphere (Bhowmik and Pan, 1992).…”