Application of citric acid and mild heat shock to minimally processed sliced radish: color evaluation

ROSARIO GOYENECHE; MARIA VICTORIA AGUERO; SARA ROURA; KARINA DI SCALA

POSTHARVEST BIOLOGY AND TECHNOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2014 vol. 93 p. 106 - 113

0925-5214

The aim of this research was to study the effects of two hurdle technologies, citric acid application (CA) at 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 % and thermal treatments (IT) for 1, 2 and 3 min at 50 ºC, on the color of radish slices over 10 d of refrigerated storage. Contribution of the hurdles and their interactions were evaluated by examining the treatment effects on the following parameters: chromatic coordinates (L*, a* and b*) and the indices: chroma (C*), total color difference (E) and Color Index (CI*). The chromatic parameters for fresh radish (control samples) were L0 = 69.43 ± 0.62, a0 = -0.46 ± 0.05 and b0 = 5.37 ± 0.37, while the calculated color indices were chroma = 5.39 ± 0.36, E = 0 and CI* = -1.19 ± 0.17. Regarding control samples, the b* values showed an increasing trend during storage, which was associated with browning of the slices. Both E and C* values presented similar trends as reported for b*. Based on statistical analysis of the parameters and indices tested, the single hurdle application of low citric acid concentration (0.3 %) or intermediate immersion time (2 min) at 50 ºC minimized the radish slices color changes during storage. However, better results were obtained when two hurdles in series were applied. According to analysis, the treatment T7 (1 min IT, 0.3 % CA) was selected as the best treatment to improve the retention of typical natural color of the minimally processed sliced radishes.