Evaluation of the effect of disinfection pre-treatment and carbon dioxide relative atmosphere on the physicochemical and microbial characteristics of fresh barberry during storage

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of CO2 atmosphere and pre-treatment of disinfection on the physicochemical properties of fresh barberry. For this purpose, after removing the foliage, part of the barberry fruit was packed in LDPE/PET packages with a thickness of 45µ and under the CO2 atmosphere (CD). Some of the fruits were first disinfected with commercial solution and then packaged under the natural atmosphere (D) or under a CO2 atmosphere (CDD). The barberry fruits without disinfection and packaged under the natural atmosphere were considered as control (C). Results showed that in packages under the natural atmosphere, the levels of O2 and CO2 decrease and increase, respectively with increasing of the storage period, while in CD and CDD packages, the amount of CO2 inside the package decreased during storage. At the end of 28 days, the moisture loss and weight loss in CD and CDD samples were higher than other samples, especially at 25ºC, while the acidity increased in these samples. At the end of 28 days of storage at 4ºC, the lowest content of anthocyanins, phenolic compounds, ascorbic acid, the DPPH scavenging capacity and the ferric reducing antioxidant power were related to the CDD, D, CDD, D, and D samples, respectively which they exhibited 40.6, 46.6, 58.4, 51.6, and 60% decline compared to harvest time. The lowest values of the above compounds at 25 C were related to CDD, CD, CDD, CD, and D samples, which lost by 48.2, 34.8, 73.8, 55.7, and 63.6%, respectively in comparison to harvest time. At the end of the storage period, the lowest firmness and the highest decay were related to the CDD. It seems that the CO2 atmosphere does not have the ability to maintain the quality of fresh barberry and the pre-treatment of disinfection intensified unfavorable conditions.