Abstract:The effects of different preservative film treatments on the quality of tomato during shelf life at room temperature were investigated in this study. The tomatoes were packaged by four kinds of preservative films, including 20 μm polyethylene film (PE20), 30 μm polyethylene film (PE30), 50 μm polyethylene film (PE50) and 20 μm polyethylene micro-film (WK). Each package contained approximately 5 kg of samples and was stored at (25±1) ℃ and RH of 50%. The volume fraction of gas, weight loss rate, hardness, chromatic aberration, titratable acid (TA), total soluble solids (TSS), vitamin C (Vc) and malonaldehyde (MDA) were detected to determine the proper preservative film. No significant difference (p>0.05) in the weight loss between polyethylene micro-film group with other preservative film group was found on the 10th day, while the color a* and the content of MDA of polyethylene micro-film group was significant lower than that of other treatments (p<0.05). On the 4th day, the hardness, and the contents of TSS, TA and Vc of polyethylene micro-film group were markedly higher than those of other treatments (p<0.05). On the 2nd and 4th day, the lightness of polyethylene micro-film group was apparently higher than that of other treatments (p<0.05). Compared with other treatments, micro film treatment could reduce the weight loss rate of tomato, maintain the firmness and good color, keep the content of nutrients such as total soluble solids, titratable acid and vitamin C, and inhibit the accumulation of MDA, which had a good fresh-keeping effect on tomato.
