Evaluation of physicochemical changes of strawberry under modified atmosphere using nanocomposite packaging film

The perishable nature of strawberry fruit is one of the key factors that limit its consumption, specified by its decreased freshness and shelf life after harvest. The suitable packaging conditions, low temperature storage, and desired atmosphere composition inside packaged are important to preserve the quality attributes and extend the shelf life of perishable fruits. In this study, the packaging films based on PLA (such as neat PLA, PLA/TA10, and PLA/C20A1/TA10) with two different gas mixtures (such as 10 KPa O2+15 KPa CO2+75 KPa N2 (MAP-A) and 15 KPa O2+10 KPa CO2+75 KPa N2 (MAP-B)) and a control sample without gas injection on fresh strawberry fruit were evaluated. The effects of the mentioned treatments on some physicochemical properties such as weight loss, total soluble solid, tritratable acidity, pH, and firmness kept at 4 0C for 23 days of storage period were evaluated based on a completely randomized design. The results showed that the weight loss and firmness of strawberry fruit decreased during storage time, while pH value increased. The total soluble solid and tritratable acidity of all the treatments increased throughout the storage time and decreased at the end of the storage time. It has been also reported that fruits packaged in PLA/C20A1/TA10 caused better quality attributes due to lower water vapor permeability and oxygen transmission rate than two films of neat PLA and PLA/TA10. In addition, the gas mixture of MAP-A was more suitable in comparison to MAP-B due to higher carbon dioxide inside packages and lower respiration rate of strawberry fruit. Therefore, the use of nanocomposite film with modified atmosphere has been proposed to maintain strawberry fruit at a low temperature.