The effect of wash water chlorine content on the pinking discolouration of fresh cut Iceberg lettuce Online publication date: Thu, 07-Apr-2022
by Lorraine H.C. Fisher; Deborah Rees
International Journal of Postharvest Technology and Innovation (IJPTI), Vol. 8, No. 2/3, 2022
Abstract: Processed Iceberg lettuce incurs high losses of up to 47% due to cut-edge pinking, despite modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) with nitrogen flushing to achieve low oxygen (<0.2%). Breeding for reduced pinking response is costly and not a short-term solution. Treatments including inhibitor additives and heat shock are not cost effective, whereas chlorine, already used as a sanitiser, has been proposed to reduce pinking. This study examined effects of applying chlorine to wash water at ≈1 mg L-1, 50 mg L-1, 100 mg L-1 and 200 mg L-1 total chlorine. Lettuce packaged in air exhibited a U-shaped response to chlorine, with minimum pinking score close to 100 mg L-1 chlorine. For cut lettuce stored under atmospheres to simulate MAP with nitrogen flushing to achieve different initial oxygen concentrations, 3% initial oxygen eliminated pinking, while with 6% lowest pinking scores were for lettuce washed at the highest chlorine concentration of 200 mg L-1.
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