Variability in the shelf life of table grapes from same batch when exposed under different ambient air conditions

• Autor(a) principal: OLIVEIRA,Cíntia Carla Melgaço de
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: OLIVEIRA,Davi Rocha Bernardes de, SILVEIRA JUNIOR,Vivaldo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Food Science and Technology (Campinas)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0101-20612021000500290
• topic: environmental conditions; monitoring; dynamic shelf life; quality heterogeneity; predictive model, FEFO

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the variability in ambient air conditions (temperature and relative humidity) and periods of exposure on the same batch of table grapes in the first stages of the fruit supply chain (harvesting, processing and storage prior to commercialization), in order to predict their dynamic shelf life. To estimate the shelf life we used a linear prediction model dependent on time and ambient air conditions (temperature and relative humidity). It was noted that during processing, there was considerable variations in ambient air conditions that grapes were exposed to, especially in harvesting stage. The ambient of following stages showed homogeneity in air conditions, but the residence time and the way of palletizing grapes affected their shelf life. We observed heterogeneity in the shelf life among different grape pallets and among boxes on a same pallet, with variations of up to 34 days. Thus, we ascertained a heterogeneity in the quality of table grapes from the same production batch, due to the variability in ambient air conditions and period of exposure, which should be considered in the logistics management of the dynamic shelf life of the product in the cold chain.