PACKAGING DESIGN AFFECTS ANTIOXIDANT VITAMIN RETENTION AND QUALITY OFBROCCOLI FLORETS DURING POSTHARVEST STORAGE

Consumer selection and consumption of lightly processed vegetables hav e dramatically increased over the last decade. However, more research is required to identify those storage conditions that will minimize nu trient and quality losses in these highly perishable products. The obj ective of our study was to assess a variety of postharvest storage tre atments including: modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), ventpackaging (VP), and automatic misting (AM) on antioxidant vitamin quality, moist ure, color retention, and peroxidase activity in broccoli florets over 6-day storage at 5 degrees C. Relative to the initial level, total ca rotenoids were retained fully in MAP samples, but a dramatic loss (42- 57%) in total carotenoid was observed in all other treatments by 6 day s. Vitamin C retention was best in MAP samples (similar to 100%); howe ver, control and VP samples retained only 14-46% of this vitamin. A sl ight increase was observed in vitamin E content in all treatments exce pt MAP by 4 days, then decreased by day 6. Peroxidase activity increas ed significantly in non-packaged (NP) and VP samples over 6 days, but no change was measured in the MAP samples. MAP resulted in the best re tention of antioxidant vitamins, moisture and color in lightly process ed broccoli florets during postharvest storage.