Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Item
    Effects of Pre-Processing Hot-Water Treatment on Aroma Relevant VOCs of Fresh-Cut Apple Slices Stored in Sugar Syrup
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2020) Rux, Guido; Efe, Efecan; Ulrichs, Christian; Huyskens-Keil, Susanne; Hassenberg, Karin; Herppich, Werner B.
    In practice, fresh-cut fruit and fruit salads are currently stored submerged in sugar syrup (approx. 20%) to prevent browning, to slow down physiological processes and to extend shelf life. To minimize browning and microbial spoilage, slices may also be dipped in a citric acid/ascorbic acid solution for 5 min before storage in sugar syrup. To prevent the use of chemicals in organic production, short-term (30 s) hot-water treatment (sHWT) may be an alternative for gentle sanitation. Currently, profound knowledge on the impact of both sugar solution and sHWT on aroma and physiological properties of immersed fresh-cuts is lacking. Aroma is a very important aspect of fruit quality and generated by a great variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Thus, potential interactive effects of sHWT and sugar syrup storage on quality of fresh-cut apple slices were evaluated, focusing on processing-induced changes in VOCs profiles. Intact ’Braeburn’ apples were sHW-treated at 55 °C and 65 °C for 30 s, sliced, partially treated with a commercial ascorbic/citric acid solution and slices stored in sugar syrup at 4 °C up to 13 days. Volatile emission, respiration and ethylene release were measured on storage days 5, 10 and 13. The impact of sHWT on VOCs was low while immersion and storage in sugar syrup had a much higher influence on aroma. sHWT did not negatively affect aroma quality of products and may replace acid dipping.
  • Item
    Optimization of short-term hot-water treatment of apples for fruit salad production by non-invasive chlorophyll-fluorescence imaging
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2020) Herppich, Werner B.; Maggioni, Marco; Huyskens-Keil, Susanne; Kabelitz, Tina; Hassenberg, Karin
    For fresh ]cut salad production, hot-water treatment (HWT) needs optimization in terms of temperature and duration to guarantee a gentle and non-stressing processing to fully retain product quality besides an effective sanitation. One major initial target of heat treatment is photosynthesis, making it a suitable and sensitive marker for HWT effects. Chlorophyll fluorescence imaging (CFI) is a rapid and non ]invasive tool to evaluate respective plant responses. Following practical applications in fruit salad production, apples of colored and of green ]ripe cultivars ( eBraeburn f, eFuji f, eGreenstar f, eGranny Smith f), obtained from a local fruit salad producer, were hot ]water treated from 44 to 70 °C for 30 to 300 s. One day after HWT and after 7 days of storage at 4 °C, CFI and remission spectroscopy were applied to evaluating temperature effects on photosynthetic activity, on contents of fruit pigments (chlorophylls, anthocyanins), and on various relevant quality parameters of intact apples. In eBraeburn f apples, short ]term HWT at °C for 30 to 120 s avoided any heat injuries and quality losses. The samples of the other three cultivars turned out to be less sensitive and may be short-term heat-treated at temperatures of up to 60 °C for the same time. CFI proved to be a rapid, sensitive, and effective tool for process optimization of apples, closely reflecting the cultivar-or batch-specificity of heat effects on produce photosynthesis. © 2020 by the authors.
  • Item
    Effect of Chlorine Dioxide Treatment on Human Pathogens on Iceberg Lettuce
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2021) Hassenberg, Karin; Praeger, Ulrike; Herppich, Werner B.
    In the vegetable processing industry, the application of chlorine dioxide (ClO2) as a disinfectant solved in washing water to eliminate undesirable microorganisms harmful to consumers’ health and the shelf life of produce has been discussed for years. The disinfection efficacy depends on various factors, e.g., the location of microorganisms and the organic load of the washing water. The present study analyzed the sanitation efficacy of various concentrations of water-solved ClO2 (cClO2: 20 and 30 mg L−1) on Escherichia coli (1.1 × 104 cfu mL−1), Salmonella enterica (2.0 × 104 cfu mL−1) and Listeria monocytogenes (1.7 × 105 cfu mL−1) loads, located on the leaf surface of iceberg lettuce assigned for fresh-cut salads. In addition, it examined the potential of ClO2 to prevent the cross-contamination of these microbes in lettuce washing water containing a chemical oxygen demand (COD) content of 350 mg L−1 after practice-relevant washing times of 1 and 2 min. On iceberg leaves, washing with 30 mg L−1 ClO2 pronouncedly (1 log) reduced loads of E. coli and S. enterica, while it only insignificantly (<0.5 × log) diminished the loads of L. monocytogenes, irrespective of the ClO2 concentration used. Although the sanitation efficacy of ClO2 washing was only limited, the addition of ClO2 to the washing water avoided cross-contamination even at high organic loads. Thus, the application of ClO2 to the lettuce washing water can improve product quality and consumer safety.