Effect of different wrapping materials on quality of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) stored at ambient temperature

Abstract

Tomato is a climacteric fruit, having respiratory peak during their ripening process. Being a climacteric and perishable vegetable, tomatoes have a very short life span, usually 2-3 weeks. This has led to a need to develop technology for extending the shelf life. This study was conducted to determine the effects of using different types of wrapping materials [newspaper, high density polyethylene (HDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cling film and unwrapped (control)] of varying permeabilities to gases and water vapor on the physico-chemichal characteristics of the tomatoes from pink maturity stage during storage at ambient temperature, ±24 C and relative humidity of 70-75%. Physical characteristics were determined by quantitative measurements of color and texture in term of skin and flesh firmness. Chemical evaluation involved TSS and pH. The results obtained from these studies indicated that there were significant differences between different types of packaging materials for all of the parameters tested over the storage period. Generally, in almost all the analyses done, the quality of the tomato deteriorated with increase in storage time. Among all the wrapping materials used, it was found that PVC cling film could extend the shelf life of the tomatoes almost up to 2 weeks with minimum color and texture changes, and marginally low changes in other parameters tested. The unwrapped tomatoes ( control) were found to be the least effective followed by newspaper and HDPE.