Assessment of the impact of some preharvest and postharvest factors on pineapple juice quality and safety

Abstract

Pre- and postharvest factors play an important role in pineapple juice quality. In this study, the impact of maturity stage (unmatured, matured and overmatured), time of harvest (morning, afternoon and evening) and storage temperature (ambient and refrigeration) of fruits on pineapple juice quality were assessed using a completely randomized design with three replications. There was a significant increase in TSS (from 14 oB to 16 oB), total antioxidant content (139.25mg/kg - 220.95 mg/kg), total phenol content (from 50.02 mg/l to 63.53mg/l) and total flavonoids (from 7.68 mg/l to 9.61 mg/l) for overmatured fruits harvested in the morning and stored in the ambient before processing into juice. There was a significant difference between the interactions of maturity stage, time of harvest and storage temperature of fruits on the nutritional composition of pineapple juice. Sensory attributes were also evaluated on the maturity stage, harvest time and storage condition. For maturity stage, juice extracted from the overmatured pineapple fruits had higher overall acceptability compared to the others. Harvesting pineapple in the morning followed by ambient storage condition, resulted in pineapple juice with higher colour, taste and after taste score. Among the treatments, juice from overmatured pineapple fruit harvested in the morning and stored in ambient condition was considered to be more appealing to the panelists. The total plate count of the juice produced from all treatments ranged from 0 to 4.164 log CFU/ml, while yeast and mould count ranged from 1.903 to 4.227 log CFU/ml which were all below the microbial limit for juice. From this study juice extracted from overmatured fruits harvested in the morning has rich nutrient with good consumer preference.