Abstract
Ohmic heating (OH) was evaluated as a post-harvest technology to improve chestnuts’ shelf-life (Castanea sativa Mill.) by controlling molds and insect larvae proliferation. Chestnuts were processed by OH at 35, 45, and 55 °C and compared with untreated fruits and the conventional hydrothermal technology (HT - 50 °C for 45 min), which is the process currently used by the chestnut industry. Shelf-life studies were carried out at different atmospheric conditions for 60 days: (i) 25 °C and 40% relative humidity (RH); (ii) 5 °C and 70% RH. The results show that the OH conducted at 55 °C (OH-55 °C), combined with storage at 5 °C, was more effective in controlling molds and larvae growth than the other treatments. Moreover, under these conditions, chestnuts’ shelf-life could be extended for 60 days without substantial changes in the fruits’ color and texture. After the OH-55 °C treatment, lower losses of some nutrients and vitamin C were registered compared to HT. This study demonstrates for the first time that OH has the potential to be used by the chestnut industry for the post-harvest disinfestation of this fruit.
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Funding
This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2020 unit and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. Enrique Pino-Hernández is a recipient of a fellowship supported by an advanced doctoral training program (call NORTE-69-2015-15), funded by the European Social Fund under the scope of Norte2020 – Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (NORTE-08-5369-FSE-000036). Ricardo N. Pereira and Luís Abrunhosa acknowledge FCT for their Assistant Research contract obtained under CEEC Individual 2017: reference CEECIND/02903/2017 and CEECIND/00728/2017, respectively.
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Enrique Pino-Hernández: investigation, formal analysis, visualization, writing – original draft.
Ricardo N. Pereira: conceptualization, methodology, writing – review and editing.
Lina F. Ballesteros: investigation, writing – review and editing.
António A. Vicente: conceptualization, resources, writing – review and editing.
Luís Abrunhosa: conceptualization, methodology, writing – review and editing, supervision.
José A. Teixeira: funding acquisition, writing – review and editing, supervision.
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Pino-Hernández, E., Pereira, R.N., Ballesteros, L.F. et al. Effects of Moderate Electric Fields on the Post-harvest Preservation of Chestnuts. Food Bioprocess Technol 14, 920–934 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-021-02612-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-021-02612-3