Enhancement of shelf life of Capsicum using ozone
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Date
2017
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Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
The present study was conducted with an objective to study the effect of a strong
oxidizing agent known as ozone, on shelf life enhancement of fresh cut capsicum shreds, which
were later stored in different storage conditions. Green capsicum also known as bell peppers
were cut into 6-7 mm shreds and treated with aqueous ozone dosages 1, 1.4, 2, 2.4 and 3 mg/l
for 1, 3 and 5 minutes. Shreds dipped in tap water for 3 minutes were taken as control. The
samples were packed in polypropylene packages and stored in refrigerated (5±0.5°C, RH
85±5%) and ambient conditions (33±2°C, RH 19±2%). The effect of ozone dosages and
treatment durations on the shelf life enhancement of shreds and on various physicochemical and
biological quality attributes was studied. Ozone showed a positive result in enhancing the shelf
life by reducing microbial load, without having any adverse effect on the quality parameters.
The higher dosages showed slight decrease in the ascorbic acid content, however these
reductions were found to be insignificant. The samples stored in refrigerated conditions had
more shelf life than the samples stored in the ambient conditions. The samples stored in the
ambient conditions lasted only for a day due to the temperature condition. The shelf life of
capsicum shreds stored at refrigerated conditions was found as 14 days when treated with 2.4
mg/l ozone for 5 min, as compared to shelf life of 8 days for control samples, considering
various quality indices. These conditions gave the best results.
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