FOOD SCIENCE ›› 2013, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (8): 279-283.doi: 10.7506/spkx1002-6630-201308060

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Preservation of Litchi with Composite Chitosan Coating and Modified Atmosphere Packaging

YANG Sheng-ping,XIE Jing*,QIAN Yun-fang,LI Nian-wen,ZHOU Ran   

  1. College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China
  • Received:2012-02-13 Revised:2013-03-14 Online:2013-04-25 Published:2013-05-07
  • Supported by:
    Agricultural Funding on Achievements Tranformation of Shanghai

Abstract: Effects of three different postharvest treatments including compound coating antistaling of chitosan, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) and their combined treatment on shelf-life of Feizixiao litchi were investigated. The coating solution in this study was composed of 1.5% chitosan + 1.0% gallic acid + 4.0% citric acid + 0.1% CaCl2. The modified atmosphere was a gas mixture of 5% CO2 + 5% O2 + 90% N2. All fruit samples treated by coating or MAP or coating with MAP were stored at (4±1)℃ with the humidity of 80%. The general quality indexes (good fruit rate and browning index) of litchi fruit, the evaluation indicators of pericarp (anthocyanin content, moisture content and color), and the quality indexes of litchi pulp (vitamin C content , soluble solid content, titratable acidity and sugar acid ratio) were used to evaluate the quality of litchi. The results showed that both the stand-alone treatment of coating and MAP could extend the preservation time of litchi. However, the results of the combined treatment could not indicate a synergic effect from two treatments. The shelf-life of litchi packaged in MAP (5% CO2 + 5% O2 + 90% N2) was the longest (42 days) among these groups, and the health fruit rate was more than 90% with a browning index of 1.52.

Key words: chitosan, compound coating anti-staling, MAP, Feizixiao litchi, preservation

CLC Number: