INFLUENCE OF THE USE OF EDIBLE FILMS IN MINIMALLY PROCESSED ORANGE ‘PÊRA’

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of edible films in the preservation of orange ‘Pêra’, minimally processed (MP), kept under refrigeration at 5ºC ± 1ºC during 7 days, by physical, physical-chemical and physiological analyses. The control, the cassava fecula (3%) and the sodium alginato (1%) and CaCl2 (1%) were tested. The use of edible films wasn’t effective to reduce the minimally processed orange ‘Pêra’ respiratory rate and the physical and physico-chemical features of the fruits preservation. The use of cassava fecula and sodium alginato kept the colors, the ascorbic acid value and the pH of minimally processed oranges, however during the storage period it was observed a decrease of the titratable acidity and an increase of the total soluble solids (TSS). The MP orange with cassava fecula showed higher hardness than the ones treated with sodium alginate through the storage period.