Authors Serrano, M., Castillo, S., Valero, D., Valverde, J., Guille, F., & Mart, D.
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill) has been known as a nutritious fruit for a long time but its antioxidant properties that demonstrate health benefits including alleviation of chronic and cardiovascular diseases are more pronounced in last decades. The fruit contains numerous bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties, which attributed to carotenoids, total phenolics (TP), and ascorbic acid. It also has been shown that the antioxidant potential of tomato varies among pulp, skin, and seed of fruits and its ripening stages. Maintaining fruit quality in terms of appearance, flavor, and nutritive value is crucial. Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) has shown as an effective way in quality maintenance of fresh produce by decreasing weight loss and delayed respiration, but it seems that traditional (passive) MAP is not able to ensure the quality and safety issues to fulfill consumer demand. Passive MAP increases the humidity inside the package, and, therefore, enhances the risk of microbial growth, while addition of antioxidants to gelatin-calcium carbonate composite films (active MAP) facilitated the conformational changes of the secondary structure and functional group of gelatin in films which improved radical scavenging capacities of composite films. Alternaria alternata, Rhizopus stolonifera, and Botrytis cinerea are considered the most important pathogens of deterioration in tomato. Different treatments such as ozone cyclic exposure, ultraviolet-B (UV-B) irradiation, and incorporation of methyl jasmonate with MAP were used to maintain postharvest quality and enhancing antioxidant capacity in tomato; however, due to global concern about environment and human health, more convenient treatments need to be developed. Recently, it has been shown that the edible coating of cherry tomatoes, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose-beeswax formulated with antifungal food additives, reduced the Alternaria black spot and maintained post-harvest quality during cold storage. Incorporation of natural compounds such as aloe gel, essential oils (EOs) into package with natural-base compound to protect packaged fruits from microbial spoilage, and, therefore, extending the shelf life of produce has overcome the extensive uses of chemicals and irradiation. The efficiency of eugenol, thymol, and menthol in combination with MAP was reported in controlling microbial spoilage of table grape berry and sweet cherry. Besides reducing the occurrence of decay, the overall fruit quality of table grape and sweet cherry were preserved during post-harvest period in those fruit that treated by EOs. Also many EOs of medicinal and aromatic plants have been confirmed to possess the antioxidant potential, which may play an important role in neutralizing free radicals, quenching singlet oxygen, or decomposing hazardous peroxides. The antimicrobial effect of aloe gel as an edible coating has recommended in many studies in fruits. Also it has been found that microbial populations were significantly reduced in aloe-treated sweet cherries than untreated fruits. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the incorporation of eugenol, thymol and aloe gel into MAP in retaining bioactive components and reducing decay potential of fruit during storage under modified atmosphere condition.
