EFFECTIVENESS OF WASHINGAND SPRAYING USING VARIOUS WASHING LIQUIDS ON THE SHELF-LIFE OFCHERRY TOMATO (Solanum lycopersicum L. var Cerasiforme)BASED ON PHYSICOCHEMICAL & MICROBIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS DURING ROOM TEMPERATURE STORAGE
Daftar Isi:
- Tomato fruits are source of good nutrition for human health, i.e high fiber and antioxidant content. Cherry tomatoes have short a shelf-life (i.e. perishable food). The damagesof tomato generally occursduring post-harvestdue to physical, chemical and microbiologicalyfactor. If not handeled properly the quality of tomato might decrease. The aim of this research is to etablish the effectiveness of washing and misting using different washing liquid such as Chlorinated Water 100 ppm, Acidic Electrolyzed Water (AEW) and Basic Electrolyzed Water (BEW) on cherry tomato’s (Solanum lycopersicum L. var Cerasiforme)shelf-lifebased on physical, chemical & microbiological characteristics under room temperature storage. The first stage of this research was producing electrolyzed water which took 3 days. The liquid were then used for washing cherry tomatoes with agitation for 5 minutes at 150 rpm. After washing treatment, tomato fruits were weighed to determine the initial weight and then packed in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) box for 14 days at 25oC and relative humidity (RH) 60-70%. The stored tomato fruits were sprayed every day usingseveralwashing liquid. During storage, tomato fruits were analyzed physically(weight loss, texture, color), chemically (moisture content, total soluble solids, titratable acidity), and microbiologically (Total Plate Count, direct plating) to ascertain the changes ofcherry tomato’s quality during room temperature storage. The results showed that variouswashing liquidhad significant effects on weight loss and texture reduction. AEW treatment has the lowest weight loss and maintain the sensory quality of cherrytomato (texture and physical appearance).Washing treatment with various wahing liquid has no significant effect on colour, total soluble solids, and titratable acidity. Based on microbiological parameter, AEW were found to bethe most effectivewashing liquid to reduce fungi growth. AEW can extend tomato shelf-life until 11 days. Based on the research results can be concluted that AEW is a proper washingliquid to maintain the quality of cherrytomato.