PACKAGING TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE, vol.24, no.3, pp.123-136, 2011 (SCI-Expanded)
Fresh strawberries are highly perishable because of their high respiration rates. Three alternative packaging approaches were investigated to maintain the high quality and to extend the shelf life of strawberries. These were active packaging using chlorine dioxide (ClO2) and ethylene-moisture sachets. The quality properties of four groups of samples were measured over 3 weeks at 4 degrees C. The groups were: control, active packaging without ClO2 treatment, active packaging with low-dose (5 ppm) ClO2 treatment and active packaging with high-dose (10 ppm) ClO2 treatment. Measured properties were weight loss, gas concentration, pH, titratable acidity (TA), soluble solids content, texture profile and colour. Active packaging with low-dose (5 ppm) ClO2 treatment was found to be the most effective for TA retention and for maintaining (L) brightness values. The control group showed the largest total soluble solids reduction from 7.60 to 6.57. Active packaging without ClO2 treatment showed the lowest weight loss (0.33%), while the control group showed the highest (1.86%) at the end of the storage.