EFFECT OF PACKAGING ON SHELF LIFE FOR FRESH CUT PINEAPPLE

Abstract

The North East of India is one of the major pineapples producing area. India is committed to deliver high quality and processed pineapples to its customers globally at most economical price. But to fight the fungal decay and sensory attributes of the fruits is the main concern. In this study the effect of Thymol, antimicrobial essential oil incorporated in PVA film was observed. Also, the pineapple wedges were initially dip treated with ascorbic acid to maintain its sensory attributes. It was found that there was complete growth inhibition due to treatment of hypochlorite solution on whole fruit and 40% thymol-PVA was able to retard the growth until day 30. There were some off flavor and odor in the samples with packaging of high content of Thymol. But the pre-treatment of ascorbic acid and packaging of 20% thymol- PVA film was found effective to maintain the balance between sensory and fungal growth