The effect of additional packaging barrier, air moment and cooling rate on quality parameters of button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus)

Effects of Different Pre-Cooling Methods on the Shelf Life and Quality of Sweet Corn (Zea mays L.)

The strong wind pre-cooling (SWPC), ice water pre-cooling (IWPC), vacuum pre-cooling (VPC), natural convection pre-cooling (NCPC), and slurry ice pre-cooling (SIPC) techniques were used to pre-cool the fresh sweet corn (Zea mays L.), and then the pre-cooling treated sweet corn samples were stored at 4 °C for 28 days. During refrigeration, quality indicators, such as hardness, water loss, color, soluble solids content, and soluble sugar, were determined. In addition, oxidation indicators, such as peroxidase, catalase, ascorbic acid-peroxidase activity, and carotene content, were also measured. The results showed that the main problems of sweet corn during cold storage were water loss and respiration. The pre-cooling speed of SWPC is the fastest, and the latent heat of sweet corn can be removed in only 31 min. SWPC and IWPC could reduce the loss of fruit quality, maintain good color and hardness, inhibit the decrease of water, soluble solids, soluble sugars, and carotenoid contents, maintain balance between POD, APX, and CAT, and extend the shelf life of sweet corn. The shelf life of SWPC and IWPC corn reached 28 days, 14 days longer than SIPC and VPC treated samples, and 7 days longer than NCPC treated samples. Therefore, SWPC and IWPC are the appropriate methods to pre-cool the sweet corn before cold storage.

Emerging technologies for preservation and quality evaluation of postharvest edible mushrooms: A review

Edible mushrooms are the highly demanded foods of which production and consumption have been steadily increasing globally. Owing to the quality loss and short shelf-life in harvested mushrooms, it is necessary for the implementation of effective preservation and intelligent evaluation technologies to alleviate this issue. The aim of this review was to analyze the development and innovation thematic lines, topics, and trends by bibliometric analysis and review of the literature methods. The challenges faced in researching these topics were proposed and the mechanisms of quality loss in mushrooms during storage were updated. This review summarized the effects of chemical processing (antioxidants, ozone, and coatings), physical treatments (non-thermal plasma, packaging and latent thermal storage) and other emerging application on the quality of fresh mushrooms while discussing the efficiency in extending the shelf-life. It also discussed the emerging evaluation techniques based on the various chemometric methods and computer vision system in monitoring the freshness and predicting the shelf-life of mushrooms which have been developed. Preservation technology optimization and dynamic quality evaluation are vital for achieving mushroom quality control. This review can provide a comprehensive research reference for reducing mushroom quality loss and extending shelf-life, along with optimizing efficiency of storage and transportation operations.

Advances in the Role and Mechanisms of Essential Oils and Plant Extracts as Natural Preservatives to Extend the Postharvest Shelf Life of Edible Mushrooms

China has a large variety of edible mushrooms and ranks first in the world in terms of production and variety. Nevertheless, due to their high moisture content and rapid respiration rate, they experience constant quality deterioration, browning of color, loss of moisture, changes in texture, increases in microbial populations, and loss of nutrition and flavor during postharvest storage. Therefore, this paper reviews the effects of essential oils and plant extracts on the preservation of edible mushrooms and summarizes their mechanisms of action to better understand their effects during the storage of mushrooms. The quality degradation process of edible mushrooms is complex and influenced by internal and external factors. Essential oils and plant extracts are considered environmentally friendly preservation methods for better postharvest quality. This review aims to provide a reference for the development of new green and safe preservation and provides research directions for the postharvest processing and product development of edible mushrooms.

The effect of alternating ventilation on forced air pre-cooling of cherries

Large temperature gradients caused by the traditional forced air pre-cooling method leads to the decrease of the shelf life of horticultural products. An alternating ventilation of air pre-cooling is one of the key methods to reduce the temperature inhomogeneity of cherries. The research results on the alternating ventilation change showed that the operating time of fan was not neglected in the forced air pre-cooling. It reached up to 7.70% of total pre-cooling time when the number of ventilation changes no more than five. In general, the total pre-cooling time was proportional to the number of ventilation increase. The final inhomogeneity of cherries first quickly decreased from 0.237 to 0.097 with air direction changing once and then fluctuated from 0.09 to 0.120 with the number of ventilation changing from 1 to 5. Through the comprehensive analysis of temperature inhomogeneity and pre-cooling time, the optimal alternating ventilation on forced air pre-cooling of cherries was ventilation changing once.

Dominant physical mechanisms governing the forced-convective cooling process of white mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus)

Nowadays, numerical modelling has been extensively converted to a powerful instrument in most agricultural engineering applications. In this study, a mathematical model was developed to simulate the forced-air cooling process of mushroom. The simulation was performed in CFD code Fluent 19.2 and the conservative mass, momentum and energy equations were solved within the package. The accuracy of the model was then quantitatively validated against experimental data and very good agreement was achieved ( R o o t - M e a n - S q u a r e E r r o r RMSE ≃ 3.8 % ). It was confirmed that in addition to convective mode, water evaporation makes a major contribution in mushroom cooling. According to the results, the developed model was able to predict the velocity and temperature profiles with a reasonable accuracy. It also has a potential to be used in design and optimization of such processes.