Storage behaviour of minimally processed pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) under modified atmosphere packaging conditions

Minimally processed vegetables in fresh, ready-to-cook form are gaining the confidence of both the trader and the consumer. This has led to a need to develop technology for increasing shelf life while maintaining the microbia l, nutritional and sensory quality of minimally processed vegetables. This investigation was carried out on pumpkin in minimally processed form, packe d in different polymeric film bags of varying permeabilities, creating an a ctive equilibrium modified atmosphere within the package for the extention of storage life. It was observed that minimally processed pumpkin, which ha s a high respiratory rate at room temperature (155.7 mg CO2/kg/h) could be stored for a period of 25 days at 5+/-2 degreesC under modified atmosphere packaging conditions with a minimum physiological loss in weight of 0.06% a nd marginally low changes in biochemical constituents, such as vitamin C, t otal soluble solids, moisture, carotenoids and titrable acidity, enabling t he retention of near-fresh quality. The microbial loads of mesophilic aerob es and coliforms, which were log 5.5 and log 4.3 were less than threshold l evel. There was no growth of yeasts and moulds or mesophilic spore formers at the end of the storage period.