Sensitivity analysis of the precooling process of strawberry: Effect of package designing parameters and the moisture loss

Abstract

Strawberry is one of the most perishable fruits, and precooling of strawberry increases the percentage of marketable fruits. To assess the sensitivity of strawberry cooling uniformity with respect to package vents and tray design, the previously proposed modified parallel airflow system (MPAS) was modified and a sensitivity analysis was conducted in this paper. Some improvements in homogeneous strawberry precooling process were made to give improved parallel airflow system (IPAS). To evaluate its performance, the cooling process of strawberries was simulated using the mathematical models of heat, momentum, and mass transfer, which were validated experimentally. Results showed that the IPAS was able to distribute cold air uniformly throughout the packages. A difference of 0.1°C was observed between the average fruit temperatures of the packages after 3 hr of cooling. Therefore, the cooling process of strawberry could be done at lower airflow rate, cooling time, and heterogeneity. In addition, the precooling process of strawberry was studied considering the moisture loss during the cooling process and comparing the data with the models without this term. The results indicated that the moisture loss of strawberries during the cooling process is not negligible and the cooling rate increased and the cooling time decreased (31%) by considering this term in the modeling. However, the moisture loss did not affect the heterogeneity of cooling process.

Sensitivity analysis of heat and mass transfer characteristics during forced‐air cooling process of peaches on different air‐inflow velocities

“…A moisture loss of waxed citrus fruits was 0.42% during the cooling period of 17.6 hr that corresponded to an evaporative cooling of 12.79% (Lambrecht, 2012). Thus, the moisture loss term inside fruits should be included in heat sources term during the cooling process, which is consistent with the investigated results of Nalbandi and Seiiedlou (2020). This is due to the fact that the associated error can be compensated by using the mathematical coupling of the term of moisture loss to the airflow.…”

“…Han et al (2017) found that the maximum temperature difference of a single apple was up to 0.033°C during cooling by comparing the temperature simulated with or without considering respiratory heat. Regarding strawberries, Nalbandi and Seiiedlou (2020) reported that transpiration heat could not be neglected during the cooling process, as the 7/8ths cooling time (SECT) decreased by 31% when this heat was added into the numerical model. Unfortunately, these previous researches did not analyze the sensitivities of these heat sources on various aspects of fruits cooling performances at different precooling strategies, resulting in an unclear relationship between these sensitivities and air-inflow velocities, coupled with the uncertainty of its corresponding influence magnitude.…”

Effects of Combined Aerosolization with Ultraviolet C Light-Emitting Diode on Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus Attached to Soft Fresh Produce

“…Thus, moisture loss plays an important role in anthocyanin degradation [46]. Therefore, several studies have investigated precooling, modified atmosphere packaging, and edible coating technologies to prevent moisture loss of strawberries, thus extending their shelf life [47][48][49]. Strawberries with an edible coating (2-3% soy protein-based or 2-3% alginate-based coating) show moisture loss of 4.41% on the 7th day of storage at 4 • C [49].…”

Combining experiments and mechanistic modeling to compare ventilated packaging types for strawberries from farm to retailer

“…Usually, there are several limiting factors, including fruit variability, measuring decay and amount control of fungal spores, or the availability of proper climatic chambers to reproduce specific cold chains realistically. Previous studies have discussed the optimal design of (ventilated) packaging in order to make cooling processes (e.g., precooling) more efficient (Ferrua & Singh, 2011;Nalbandi & Seiiedlou, 2020). Furthermore, it was investigated how humidity-related effects impact the shelf life of packed strawberries.…”