BIBLIOS

Document type
Journal articles

Document subtype
Full paper

Title
Multi-Target Alternative Approaches to Promoting Fresh-Cut Carrots’ Bioactive and Fresh-like Quality

Participants in the publication
Carla Alegria (Author)
cE3c/FCUL
Elsa M. Gonçalves (Author)
INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE INVESTIGAÇÃO AGRÁRIA E VETERINÁRIA, I.P.
Margarida Moldão-Martins (Author)
INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE AGRONOMIA
Marta Abreu (Author)
INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE INVESTIGAÇÃO AGRÁRIA E VETERINÁRIA, I.P.

Summary
Fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, as near-fresh foods, are a quick and easy solution to\na healthy and balanced diet. The rapid degradation of nutritional and sensory quality during\nthe processing and storage of a product is critical and plant-type-dependent. The introduction of\ndisruptive technological solutions in fresh-cut processing, which could maintain fresh-like quality\nwith less environmental impact, is an emerging research concept. The application of abiotic stress\ntreatments (heat shock and UV-C) induces metabolic responses and microbial effects in plant tissues,\npotentially slowing down several quality senescence pathways. The previously selected combined\nand single effects of heat shock (100 C/45 s; in the whole root) and UV-C (2.5 kJ/m2) treatments\nand two packaging conditions (oriented polypropylene (OPP) vs. micro-perforated OPP films) on\ncontrolling critical degradation pathways of fresh-cut carrots and on promoting bioactive and sensory\nquality during storage (5 C, 14 days) were studied. Among the tested combinations, synergistic\neffects on the quality retention of fresh-cut carrots were only attained for applying heat shock\nassociated with micro-perforated OPP film packaging. Its effects on reducing (3.3 Log10 CFU/g)\nthe initial contamination and controlling microbiological spoilage (counts below the threshold limit\nof 7.5 Log10 CFU/g), increasing the bioactive content (38% and 72% in total phenolic content and\nchlorogenic acid, respectively), and preserving fresh quality attributes prove to be a viable alternative\ntechnology for shredded carrot processing.


Where published
Foods

Publication Identifiers
ISSN - 2304-8158

Publisher
MDPI AG



Document Identifiers
DOI - https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11162422
URL - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods11162422

Keywords
abiotic stress treatments heat shock UV-C micro-perforated packaging film microbiological development bioactive compounds sensorial quality

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