Development of shelf-life kinetic model for perforated modified atmosphere packaging of fresh-cut Romaine lettuce

Mechanical injuries in to the tissue of ready-to-eat fresh-cut ​​lettuce usually cause stresses which leads to increasing respiration rate. The shelf life of this product depends on the processing and packaging steps, the type of packaging film and the environmental conditions during storage. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of storage time, storage temperature, immersion pretreatment and the number of perforations of packing film on the crispness coefficient and sensory evaluation (total acceptance) of fresh-cut packaged lettuce stored under modified atmospheric condition and also development of shelf-life kinetic model of this product. For this purpose, 250 g of the lettuce strips were washed and immersed into two different concentrations (1.5/0.5 and 1.5/0.1) of CaL/Cys, then packed and sealed in low-density polyethylene packaging films (LDPE, 42 μm thickness) with no perforation (N-MAP: 21% O2, 0% CO2) and 20 and 40 perforations per m2, respectively. The study was carried out at two temperatures of 5 and 10 °C, for a storage time of 12 days. Indices of quality maintenance, i.e., crispness coefficient and sensory evaluation (total acceptance) were investigated. Furthermore, a mathematical model was developed to describe the kinetics of changes in crispness coefficient and sensory evaluation. Then, the shelf life of the samples was predicted based on sensory evaluation. The results showed that changes in selected targeted parameters could be best described by a zero-order. The prediction of shelf life of fresh-cut lettuce samples showed that samples treated with 1.5%CaL/0.1% Cys packed in 20-PM-MAP, stored at 5°C and 10 °C and samples treated with 1.5%CaL/0.5% Cys packed in 20-PM-MAP stored at 5°C, had a shelf life of 12.62, 12.59 and 11.59 days (with no significant difference at p < 0.05), respectively.