Influence of antibrowning agents on shelf life of fresh-cut pineapple (Ananas comosus L.) cv. Kew

Abstract: Food spoilage due to browning is one of the major challenges faced by the food and processing industries. In fruits and vegetables, browning due to both enzymatic and nonenzymatic reactions is a common event that renders them unattractive and unsuitable for consumption. In the last few decades, numerous studies have been conducted to slow or inhibit these undesirable physiological reactions during processing and storage. An experiment was carried out to determine the effect of different antibrowning agents on the quality and shelf life of fresh-cut pineapple from 2020-2021 in the laboratory of the Department of Horticulture at Annamalai University. The experiment consisted of 11 treatments and was replicated 3 times, viz., T₁ (ascorbic acid 500 ppm), T₂ (ascorbic acid 1000 ppm), T₃ (citric acid 250 ppm), T₄ (citric acid 500 ppm), T₅ (sodium chloride 100 ppm), T₆ (sodium chloride 200 ppm), T₇ (calcium chloride 100 ppm), T₈ (calcium chloride 200 ppm), T₉ (honey 5%), T₁₀ (honey 10%), and T₁₁ (control). Antibrowning agents significantly and positively impacted the quality parameters of fresh-cut fruits. The minimum PLW (0.71%) and maximum scores of firmness (2.16kg/cm²), titratable acidity (0.53%), total sugar (11.65%), nonreducing sugar (1.94%) and texture index (2.37) were recorded in T₈. However, maximum TSS (14.6 °Brix), total sugar (11.65%), and reducing sugar (9.48%) were recorded in T₁₀. The lowest browning rate was recorded in the treatment with ascorbic acid in T₂. The treatments with calcium chloride and ascorbic acid best retained the quality of fresh-cut pineapple fruit.