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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Food Processing and Sensory Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #239893
Title: Volatile and quality changes in fresh-cut cantaloupe and honeydew melons stored in modified atmosphere packaging.

Author
item AMARO, ANA - Universidade Catolica Portuguesa
item Beaulieu, John
item Stein, Rebecca
item ALMEIDA, DOMINGOS - Universidade Catolica Portuguesa
item MALCATA, XAVIER - Universidade Do Porto

Submitted to: Environmentally Friendly and Safe Technologies for Quality of Cost 924: Fruits and Vegetables Safe and Environmentally Friendly Technologies for Quality of Fruits and Vegetables
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/19/2008
Publication Date: 2/15/2009
Citation: Amaro, A.L., Beaulieu, J.C., Stein, R.E., Almeida, D.P., Malcata, X.F. 2009. Volatile and quality changes in fresh-cut cantaloupe and honeydew melons stored in modified atmosphere packaging. . Environmentally Friendly and Safe Technologies for Quality of Cost 924: Fruits and Vegetables Safe and Environmentally Friendly Technologies for Quality of Fruits and Vegetables .

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) in fresh-cut melons has been reported to preserve the visual quality during storage, yet its effect upon aroma and firmness is cultivar-dependent. The main objective of this research was to compare the properties of fresh-cut from a fast senescing cantaloupe with a slow senescing honeydew melon, regarding changes in quality and volatiles, when stored in passive MAP. Fresh-cut cubes of cantaloupe and honeydew melons were packaged in polypropylene trays, over-wrapped with a microperforated film, and stored for 14 days at 5 ºC. Three replicate packages of each cultivar were assayed at day 0, 4, 7, 11, and 14 for color, firmness, soluble solid content (SSC), juice loss, respiration rate and volatile retention, and the experiment was repeated. Volatile compounds were extracted using a relatively recent technique, Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction (SBSE), and quantified via GC-MS. Color and SSC remained constant throughout storage. During the first 4 days of storage, the cantaloupe cubes softened at a higher rate (2.0 N.day-1) than honeydew cubes (0.9 N.day-1), but firmness remained relatively unchanged until the end of the storage period. Fresh-cut cantaloupe cubes exhibited a higher respiration rate (17.5–43.4 ml CO2.kg-1.h-1) than fresh-cut honeydew cubes (7.7–30.0 ml CO2.kg-1.h-1) throughout the entire storage period. Esters and aldehydes were the major volatile compounds present in the samples of both cultivars, but cantaloupe yielded higher concentrations of esters and aldehydes, and lower concentrations of alcohols than honeydew. Esters increased their levels during storage, whereas, alcohols and aldehydes decreased.