Effect of controlled atmosphere and temperature on the quality maintenance of minimally processed 'Galia' melon

© 2018 International Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved. Microbiological growth is the major factor limiting the quality maintenance of fresh-cut 'Galia' melon. The effect of different controlled atmospheres (CA) as CO2 (5, 10, 15 and 20 kPa) plus a fixed O2 (5 kPa) concentration combined with two storage temperatures (5 and 10°C) on the microbiological growth and sensorial quality of fresh cut 'Galia' melon was assessed. Growth of different microorganisms were described by a simple sigmoid curve and, as expected, spoilage increased with temperature. The use of a concentration of 15 or 20 kPa of CO2 resulted in an improvement of 1.5 and 1 d of storage life at 5 and 10°C, respectively, due to a reduction in mesophilic (of about 3 log cfu g-1) and psychotrophic growth (1.5 log cfu g-1). Both CAs provided a reduction of about 2 and 1 log cfu g-1 in Enterobactericeae growth at 5 and 10°C, respectively. Mould and yeast growth were affected by CA treatments only at 10°C, resulting in reductions of 2 log units when the levels of CO2 increased from 5 to 10, 15 and 20 kPa. CA or temperature did not affect the lactic acid bacterial growth. The sensorial quality was also affected by temperature. At 5°C, the higher CO2 concentrations (10, 15 and 20 kPa) resulted in a shelf-life of 9 d while at 10°C the use of any CA resulted in a shelf-life of more than 7 d. Temperature was the main factor to preserve fresh-cut 'Galia' melon quality.