Effect of modified atmosphere storage on quality characteristics of dehydrated Jack Fruits

Abstract

The quality deterioration of agricultural produces with the time is a major problem in storage. Modified atmosphere packaging is used as an alternative technique for the chemical preservation of food products. This study investigated the efficiency of modified atmosphere treatments with carbon dioxide (CO2) or nitrogen (N2) gas for the quality preservation of dehydrated jack fruit. The color, moisture content, pH, Brix value, titratable acidity, and microbial quality of the modified atmosphere treated dehydrated jack fruits were investigated. The color of the dehydrated jack fruit did not show any significant difference (p>0.05) before and 60 days after treated with 99% CO2 gas. The yellowness (b* value) of the dehydrated jack fruit samples shown a significant difference (p<0.05) to the 99% N2 treatment but lightness (L* value) and redness (a* values) did not have any significant difference (p>0.05) to the treatment. The modified atmosphere storage did not have any significance (p>0.05) on moisture content, pH, and titratable acidity values of jackfruit but Brix value and microbial population have shown significant difference (p>0.05) during the 60 days of storage at 27 ± 2 °C and 75 ± 5% RH. In conclusion, modified atmosphere gases preserved quality characteristics of dried jackfruit than hermetic storage condition. Since, both inert gases have same effect on the quality characteristics of jackfruits without considerable significant.