Storage Conditions of Refrigerated Prickly Pears in Small Processing Industries

Goretti L. Díaz-Delgado, Elena M. Rodríguez-Rodríguez, M. Pilar Cano and M. Gloria Lobo ()
Additional contact information
Goretti L. Díaz-Delgado: Departamento de Producción Vegetal en Zonas Tropicales y Subtropicales, Instituto Canario de Investigaciones Agrarias, 38270 Tenerife, Spain
Elena M. Rodríguez-Rodríguez: Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Tecnología Farmacéutica, Universidad de La Laguna, 38296 Tenerife, Spain
M. Pilar Cano: Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Plant Food Functionality, Biotechnology and Food Microbiology Department, Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL) (CSIC-UAM), 28049 Madrid, Spain
M. Gloria Lobo: Departamento de Producción Vegetal en Zonas Tropicales y Subtropicales, Instituto Canario de Investigaciones Agrarias, 38270 Tenerife, Spain

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: Prickly pears ( Opuntia ficus-indica ), which are well known for their beneficial properties for human health, are the subject of many studies due to their high content of bioactive compounds. However, the presence of spines on the fruit’s surface is a factor that limits consumption. Therefore, the viability and nutritional quality of peeled and packaged white, orange, and pink prickly pears were studied during storage. Refrigerated whole fruits stored at 8 °C and 85% RH for 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 weeks were electrically peeled and packaged with micro-perforated film. At each time point, their microbial quality; physical parameters, such as hardness, texture, and color; and chemical parameters, including pH, titratable acidity, total soluble solids content, sugar content, ascorbic acid content, antioxidant capacity, and total phenol content, were analyzed. The mesophilic aerobic counts were lower than the values established by Spanish legislation (7 log (CFU/g f.w.)) until day 8 after packaging (or until day 6 after 4 weeks of storage). The hardness, texture, pH, sugar content, ascorbic acid content, and antioxidant capacity decreased significantly between day 0 and day 8 after packaging, independently of the number of weeks for which the whole fruits had been refrigerated previously. Furthermore, the changes in the parameters analyzed for whole fruits during storage were less remarkable. The evaluation of the sensory features was positive throughout the preserved period. The minimally processed prickly pears retained suitable microbial, nutritional, and sensory qualities when the whole fruits had been refrigerated for 1, 2, 3, or 4 weeks, facilitating their management in small processing companies.

Keywords: Opuntia; fresh cut; storage; whole fruit; microbial; nutritional and sensory qualities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/4/594/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/4/594/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:4:p:594-:d:1372417

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().