Dear FreshPlaza readers, as anticipated last week (read here), the scientists of EU project Quafety will be waiting for you on the tacler platform (www.tacler.com) on Friday from 2 to 3 p.m. (GMT +2), July 11th, to discuss some topics that are being studied within the project.Here is a brief summary of the first meeting:
NUTRITIONAL AND FUNCTIONAL QUALITY OF READY-TO-EAT ROCKET LEAVES WHEN AFFECTED BY PROCESSING, MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE AND STORAGE TEMPERATURE
Manuela Pintado, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Portugal
Friday July 11th - from 2 to 3 p.m. (GMT +2)
Summary
Worldwide consumption of ready-to-eat (RTE) rocket leaves is increasing due not only to their convenience and flavour but also due to its wide range of health promoting phytonutrients. Industrial processing and storage conditions are known to affect quality of RTE rocket leaves, with atmosphere and low temperature as key factors in quality maintenance throughout processing to the final consumer.
In commercial practice, low temperature and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) are used to improve appearance in RTE rocket leaves and prevent spoilage. However, there is a gap between the claimed potential benefits of these storage conditions and the limited information on their effects on nutritional and functional quality of RTE rocket leaves.
Knowledge transfer is of paramount importance to companies that operate in the RTE salads supply chain in order to harness the benefits of the selection of optimal storage conditions.
To generate recommendations to optimize phytochemical preservation of rocket leaves during processing, a nutritional audit of the processing line of a fresh-cut vegetables enterprise was performed. Nutritional quality was evaluated at each step of the production flowchart of RTE rocket-leaves and during storage under different MAP and temperature conditions. Processing, MAP and storage temperature significantly affected nutritional composition of RTE rocket leaves.
The integration of these results contributes to provide useful information for developing processes aimed at the modulation of nutritional quality and shelf-life extension.
Come and learn more on tacler - QUAFETY section - Friday July 11th - from 2 to 3 p.m. (GMT +2).