Study on prolongation of watermelon fresh-cut shelf-life by ozone treatment

Abstract

This paper focuses on the application of ozone treatment in watermelon fresh-cut processing. Our experimental results showed that ozone blowing into the package containing watermelon fresh-cut improved significantly the hygienic quality of the final product. With the ozone concentration in the blowing flux 4.2mg/dm³ (30^oC, 1atm), the suitable time for watermelon fresh-cut treatment was 3 minutes. Some packaging materials were then tested for prolonging the fresh-cut shelf-life and polyethylene was selected. From the microbiological point of view, the shelf-life of watermelon fresh-cut stored at 4^oC was 7 days.