Browsing by Author "Latifah, M."

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    Effect of Chemical Pretreatments on the Quality of Minimally Processed Pineapple Stored in Polystyrene Packages
    (2012) Ediriweera, S.; Abeywickrama, K.P.; Latifah, M.
    Minimally processed pineapple (Ananas comosus L.) cv. Mauritius stored at cold temperature for seven days were evaluated for physicochemical, sensory and microbiological qualities. Pineapple pieces were treated with 1% sodium chloride, 1% calcium chloride, a combination of 1% sodium chloride and calcium chloride, 1% ascorbic acid, 1% citric acid, 0.1% chitosan and distilled water (control) and packed in polystyrene packages before storage. Pretreatments did not significantly affect the physicochemical properties studied. Many sensory attributes in minimally processed pineapple decreased after seven days of storage. However, sodium chloride (1%) and a combination of 1% sodium chloride and calcium chloride pretreatments resulted in maintaining a better flavour in pineapple after a seven day storage period than the rest of the treatments. Microbial counts for all treatments and the control were within safe-to-consume limits while Salmonella was not detected in any sample.
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    Quality of minimally processed modified atmosphere sorted bell pepper, as affected by pre treatments
    (2015) Ediriweera, S.; Abeywickrama, K.P.; Latifah, M.; Othaman, F.; Hussin, R.; Tham, S.
    Minimally processed bell pepper strips stored at 8-100C for seven days were evaluated for variation in color, in package gases, firmness, physicochemical sensory and microbiological quality. Bell pepper strips were treated with sodium chloride, calcium chloride, sodium chloride+calcium chloride or distilled water (control) and packed in polystyrene packages before storage. Pretreatments did not drastically affect the physicochemical properties (titratable acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS) and pH) when compared to the control. A slight discoloration of bell pepper was evident, indicated by decreasing L*, a* and b* values. Variations in firmness were observed. Fair-ly high level of CO2 accumulation was evident inside packages where O2 concentration displayed a declining trend. Sensory attributes generally declined with time but were within acceptable limits. Microbial counts were within safe-to-consume limits for all samples within the storage period. All pretreatments tested had no drastic effect on sensory properties and maintained low microbial counts, however 1% sodium chloride pretreatment was more successful in retaining higher sensory properties and maintaining lower microbial counts by the end of stor-age period than the other pretreatments.