Effect of reducing atmosphere packaging (RAP) as a new storage method on the chemical and physical quality of strawberry

Since strawberry is a sensitive fruit that deteriorates rapidly, its shelf life is short. In this study, strawberries were stored with 5 different concentration as RAP1 (%5 CO_2, %4 H_2, %91 N_2), RAP2 (%10 CO_2, %4 H_2, %86 N_2), MAP1 (%5 CO_2, %95 N_2), MAP2 (%10 CO_2, %90 N_2) and open air (control group) (4 ± 1 °C) for 12 weeks to investigate the effect of Reducing Atmosphere Packaging (RAP) and Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) techniques on preserving of strawberries The effect of Reducing Atmosphere Packaging (IAP) as a new preservation method, on the chemical (pH, oxido-reduction potential, total phenolic content, DPPH and ABTS inhibition activity and anthocyanin content) and physical (color, weight loss and total soluble solids) quality of the strawberry was investigated. At the end of the storage, while the decrease at the soluble solids (TSS) was determined to be %71,5 in the control group, it turned out to be %11,2 in the , İAP2 group. As a result of the color analysis the highest L* value was found for control group and the lowest value was found in the RAP1 and RAP2 applications. Similarly, a* value was best maintained for RAP1 and RAP2 applications. It wasn't observed significant difference in the ∆E values of RAP2 for 6 weeks depending on time (P<0,05). According to pH analysis, it was observed that the difference among all applications was significant and the highest values belonged to IAP application (P <0,05). As a result of the texture (hardness) analysis the most effective application was determined as RAP2. Antioxidant activity results obtained by DPPH and ABTS inhibition activity method it was found that RAP2 showed the highest antioxidant activity value at the end of the 12-week storage period. According to the total anthocyanin and phenolic substance analyses strawberries packed with RAP1 and RAP2 applications for 12 weeks showed highest anthocyanin and phenolic content. RAP and other storage methods (MAP and control) are compared in this study it was concluded that the storage with RAP, prolongs the shelf life of the strawberry without the use of excess CO_2 gas and preservatives. This clearly showed that the effectiveness of H_2 in the packaging concept is much higher than the other gases used before.