engleski

Packaging atmosphere effect on colour and sensory quality of anti-browning treated fresh-cut Lady Clair potato

It is well known that cut potato turn brown when they are exposed to oxygen what can make the potato appear unacceptable. To prevent this colour, change different anti-browning treatments can be applied. The objective of this work was to investigate colour stability and sensory attributes of fresh cut potato variety Lady Clair packaged in vacuum and modified atmosphere (MAP) after anti-browning treatment with sodium ascorbate solution. Afterwards, the samples were stored ten days at 3 oC. As control, peeled, sliced and anti-browning treated air packed potato was used. Samples were analysed on the second, fourth, seventh and tenth day. L*a*b*- colour values were measured by Konika-Minolta colorimeter. Sensory evaluation was done by quantitative descriptive analysis of fresh-cut raw potato slices with exclusion the taste parameters and after cooking all attributes were evaluated. Hand-held gas analyser OXYBABY was used to measure the O2 and CO2 contents in the packages. Polymeric bi-layer pouches composed of polyamide and polyethylene with a thickness of 90 m were used. Gas composition of MAP was 10% CO2, 3% O2 and 87% N2. In air and MAP samples O2 and CO2 were almost constant during the entire storage time while this was not the case with vacuum packaged samples. In air-packed samples O2 was between 18 – 20 %, and CO2 was between 1 to 2 %. In MAP it was opposite, CO2 was lower close to zero while O2 increased from 7% at the beginning to17 % at the end of storage. In vacuum packaged samples O2 were between 12 and 20% and CO2 between 2 and 8%. The most lightness samples were MAP packaged ones with no difference compared to initial sample. The best sensory evaluated samples were those in vacuum package.

Packaging, colour and sensory quality, anti-browning , fresh-cut potato

This research was financially supported by the Croatian Science Foundation