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Isothermal calorimetry protocols to monitor the shelf life and aftermarket follow-up of fresh cut vegetables

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Abstract

Protocols and guidelines were assessed in order to apply isothermal calorimetry as a complementary/alternative method to monitoring, during the shelf life and the microbial growth/metabolism in commercial fresh cut vegetables with random initial microbial population. Moreover, the endogenous microbial population was used as a biosensor to check the modifications occurred during long storage for aftermarket characterization in the frame of vegetable waste treatments. Validation was obtained following ready-to-use carrots highlighting the effects of the different exposed surfaces (cylinders, sticks and à-la-julienne cut) on the overall spoiling process during shelf life and green salad stored up to 14 days with regard to the aftermarket characterization.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (Prot. 957/ric, 28/12/2012), through the Project 2012ZN3KJL “Long Life, High Sustainability.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze per gli Alimenti, la Nutrizione e l’Ambiente (DeFENS), Università Degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Nabil Haman, Marco Signorelli, Laura Franzetti & Dimitrios Fessas

  2. Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Via Risorgimento 35, 56127, Pisa, Italy

    Celia Duce

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  1. Nabil Haman
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  2. Marco Signorelli
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  3. Celia Duce
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Correspondence to Dimitrios Fessas.

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Haman, N., Signorelli, M., Duce, C. et al. Isothermal calorimetry protocols to monitor the shelf life and aftermarket follow-up of fresh cut vegetables. J Therm Anal Calorim 137, 1673–1680 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-019-08064-4

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