STORAGE QUALITY OF BELL PEPPERS PRETREATED WITH HOT WATER AND POLYETHYLENE PACKAGING

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Abstract
Treatments of bell peppers (Capsicum annuum, L) with hot water at 45Cfor 15 min or SSC for 4 min prior to storage at 8C markedly reduced the incidence of fungal infections. However, the hot water treatment induced shriveling during storage. When hot water treated pepper fruits were subsequently placed in low density polyethylene bags, storage quality of these peppers improved tremendously including retention of firmness, reduction of water loss, retardation of color change, and alleviation of chilling injury. Total soluble solids, titratable acidity, and pH values in the pepper fruit were generally not affected by these treatment. A 4 min dip at 53C followed by packaging with 0.065 mm low density polyethylene film was very effective in maintaining pepper quality. This treatment inhibited respiration rate, reduced decay, retained turgidity and green color, and maintained excellent overall quality after 28 days of storage at 8C. Hot water treatment combined with polyethylene film packaging is a promising technique for improving the storage quality of bell peppers.