Influence of cooling and packaging usage in post-harvest preservation of fresh raspberries.

Abstract

The raspberry has stood out among the berries because of its high content of antioxidants and anticancer, besides being an attractive fruit. Raspberry has a pleasant flavor and they can be consumed fresh, as jam, juice, yogurt, ice cream and sweets. However, it is a fruit with a limited shelf life, due many factors, mainly high metabolic rate, loss of firmness, browning and rot. These factors cause the fruit to keep the desirable qualities for just five trading days. The aim of this work is to extend the preservation postharvest period of fresh raspberry, through the use of modified atmosphere and cold storage. The work will be divided into two stages. The first goal will be to determine the best storage temperature that will maintain the qualities of fresh raspberry. After determined the best storage condition, the second experiment will be mounted. This will determine the most suitable packaging for the raspberry, as well as evaluation of modified atmosphere that it will cause. The analysis carried out will be: weight loss, color, firmness, soluble solids, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid content, respiration rate and ethylene production, gas composition, content of anthocyanin and incidence of decay. The statistical will be randomized in a factorial, with four replications of each treatment, with approximately 120 g of fruit per replicate. The results will be submitted to analysis of variance and means are compared by Tukey test (p <0.05).