Physico-chemical and sensory evaluation of strawberries after acetic acid vapour treatment.

摘要

Grey mould, caused by Botrytis cinerea, is the main reason of decay in harvested strawberries. Acetic acid (AA) vapour treatment considerably inhibits the growth of B. cinerea . For practical application, it is a prerequisite that antimicrobial treatments are gentle and guarantee the maintenance of internal quality, and fruit odour and flavour. Previous studies found indications that the odour of strawberries was affected by AA fumigation. Therefore, a panel test was performed to evaluate the conditions when strawberries were affected by AA treatments. For this purpose, fruit were fumigated with different AA concentrations (0, 2 and 4 mg l-1) and stored for different times (2 and 26 h) in boxes wrapped with perforated plastic film. Concomitant with the sensory tests, mass losses and stiffness of fruit as well as their contents of solublesugars (glucose, fructose, and sucrose), titratable acidity,vitamin C and total osmotic substances were determined. AA treatment of strawberries resulted in significantly increased water losses leading to fruit that are less stiff. While the soluble sugar or acid contents of fruit were not affected by AA fumigation, this treatment diminished the increase in vitamin C generally observed during storage. Strawberries did not show significant differences in flavour, independent of the AA concentration and storage time. However, members of a consumer panel noticed a significant change in odour even at an AA concentration of 2 mg l-1. The perception of unpleasant fruit odour increased during storage, though differences were not statistically significant compared with the results of the initial evaluation. In conclusion, AA vapour fumigation is not a suitable technique for strawberry disinfection.