FILM WRAPPING DELAYS AGING OF MINNEOLA TANGELOS UNDER SHELF-LIFE CONDITIONS

Fruits of 'Minneola' tangelo (Citrus paradisi 'Duncan' x Citrus reticu lata 'Dancy') were dipped in water, 500 ppm sodium hypochlorite or 500 ppm imazalil and then left either unwrapped or wrapped with three pla stic films of different permeabilities, The fruit were stored at 20 de grees C and 60% relative humidity (RH) and sampled at 10-day intervals for 1 month. Changes in characteristics of the juice (pH, titratable acidity, total soluble solids, vitamin C, acetaldehyde, ethanol, metha nol and ethyl acetate), weight loss, ageing, decay, firmness, respirat ion, ethylene evolution, and in-package gas composition, generally wer e delayed by the less permeable film. Decay caused by Penicillium digi tatum was inhibited by imazalil, but not by sodium hypochlorite, An un trained test panel rated the fruits wrapped with the less permeable fi lm the most acceptable, and the combination of this film with imazalil resulted in best overall fruit quality. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V . All rights reserved.