Quality changes in fresh-cut celery as affected by heat treatment and storage

SONIA Z. VIÑA; MARÍA M. LÓPEZ OSORNIO; ALICIA R. CHAVES

JOURNAL OF THE SCIENCE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

Wiley Interscience, Published for SCI (Society of Chemical Industry) by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Año: 2007 vol. 87 p. 1400 - 1407

0022-5142

Abstract. This work was intended to investigate the effect of thermal treatment (by immersion or heated air) on quality attributes of pre-cut celery stored at 0ºC for 21 days. The evolution of organoleptic characteristics, weight loss, surface colour, chlorophyll content, texture and microbiological counts were determined. Quality of cut celery mostly kept their initial levels up to 14 days at 0ºC, regardless of the treatment applied. The control and heated-air treated samples experienced a similar evolution of surface colour, chlorophyll content, texture and microbial counts. There was a slight advantage of the heated air treatment compared to the control, as measured by sensory parameters. The immersion treatment allowed a better retention of the original colour and the total chlorophyll content of pieces. However, after 14 days at 0ºC, a more noticeable tissue softening along with rapid microbial development was observed. KEYWORDS: ready to use vegetables; celery; heat shock; texture; chlorophyll; total aerobic population