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Title: MAINTAINING QUALITY OF FRESH-CUT MANGOS USING ANTIBROWNING AGENTS AND MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE PACKAGING

Author
item GONZALEZ-AGUILAR, GUSTAVO - CIAD, HERMOSILLO, MEXICO
item Wang, Chien
item Buta, Joseph - George

Submitted to: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/11/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Tropical fruits are a new and attractive addition to the marketing of fresh-cut produce. Mangos are widely available as the whole fruit but have not been investigated as fresh-cut items. Problems preventing the use of mangos in these applications are browning, drying of the cut- fruit as well as decay. We have shown that the shelf-life of mango slices can be lengthened to 14 days at 10 degrees C by treating with a combination of food-safe compounds derived from natural products, hexylresorcinol, isoascorbic acid and potassium sorbate. The treated slices had to be kept packaged such that the in-package atmosphere prevented tissue drying. The combination of natural products and packaging provides an innovative use of mangos for marketing by the produce industry, especially the tropical fruit importers.

Technical Abstract: Treatments to inhibit browning and decay and prolong shelf life of fresh-cut mango were investigated. Combinations of antibrowning agents and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) resulted in a reduction of browning and deterioration of fresh-cut mangos stored at 10 degrees C. Combinations of several browning inhibitors were more effective than those applied individually. Among these treatments, solutions containing 4-hexylresorcinol (0.001M)(HR) + potassium sorbate (0.05M)(KS) and HR + KS + D-isoascorbic acid (0.5M) (ER), reduced changes in color (L*, a* and b*), microbial growth and did not affect sensory characteristics of fresh-cut mangos. In general, these treatments did not affect significantly the changes in organic acids and sugar content of slices during the 14 days storage at 10 degrees C. High humidity created in the in-package atmosphere alleviated tissue dryness and was an important factor in the ability of the antibrowning solutions to prevent browning and decay. It appears that the maintenance of quality of fresh-cut mangos is more related to particular combinations of the antibrowning agents used rather than the modified atmosphere created inside the package. HR+ER+KS treatment in combination with MAP could be used to inhibit browning, decay and deterioration of fresh-cut mangos.