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Microwave Pasteurised Pear Snack: Quality and Microbiological Stability

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Abstract

William Bartlett (Pyrus communis) pears were diced, packaged and subjected to a short continuous microwave treatment (4.7 min) which increased the temperature from 19.92 ± 1.36 to 101.11 ± 2.50 °C. Retorted samples were processed at 95.40 °C for 18.0 min for comparison. Recorded temperature data were used to calculate C, D and F values. Brix, pH, colour, texture, microbial counts, microstructure and volatile profiles of both treated samples were analysed immediately after process and after 1, 2, 4 and 6 weeks of storage at 4 °C. The C, D and F values of microwaved pears were significantly (p < 0.05) lower compared to those of retorted samples. Both methods of processing resulted in products with standard plate count of < 10 cfu/g during 6 weeks of storage at 4 °C. Microwave processing offered a final product with a total colour difference in the same range as the retorted samples. Polyphenol oxidase enzyme was inactivated below the detection level by both microwave processing and retorting. Microwaved samples also maintained cell wall integrity, although the intercellular intactness was slightly weakened and prevented the final product from developing water-soaked appearance. During storage, volatile profiles of microwaved samples showed significant (p < 0.05) differences, whereas the retort samples showed minimal changes. In comparison to conventional retorting, a short microwave treatment can result in a superior quality end-product with a comparable microbiological quality and a minimum shelf life of 6 weeks at 4 °C.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The author A.F. Devi would like to express her gratitude to the Endeavour Research Fellowship providing financial support during her research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Agriculture and Food, 671 Sneydes Road, Werribee, VIC, 3030, Australia

    Anastasia Fitria Devi, Xin Ni Au, Rangika Weerakkody, Peerasak Sanguansri, Piotr Swiergon, Tanoj Singh, Sieh Ng & Thambaramala V. Gamage

  2. Research Centre for Chemistry, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Kawasan Puspiptek, Jalan Raya Serpong, Tangerang Selatan, Banten, 15314, Indonesia

    Anastasia Fitria Devi

  3. Department of Food Science and Technology, The Ohio State University, 2015 Fyffe Rd, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Xin Ni Au

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  1. Anastasia Fitria Devi
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  2. Xin Ni Au
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  3. Rangika Weerakkody
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  8. Thambaramala V. Gamage
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Contributions

AFD conducted the experiments, analysed the results, drafted and revised the manuscript. XNA conducted the experiments. RW designed and conducted the experiments. PS and PS provided technical assistance for microwave and retort equipment and collected data. TS collected and analysed data. SN collected data. TVG concepted, designed and conducted experiments, and revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Thambaramala V. Gamage.

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Devi, A.F., Au, X.N., Weerakkody, R. et al. Microwave Pasteurised Pear Snack: Quality and Microbiological Stability. Food Bioprocess Technol 14, 1615–1630 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-021-02642-x

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