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Postharvest Biology and Technology 48 (2008) 2229

Effect of passive and active modied atmosphere packaging on quality changes of fresh endives
Florence Charles a,b , Carole Guillaume a, , Nathalie Gontard a
a

UMR 1208 Agropolymers Engineering and Emerging Technologies (Montpellier SupAgro, INRA, UM2, CIRAD), cc023, Place E. Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France b Standa Industrie, 68 rue Robert Kaskoreff, F-14050 Caen, France Received 19 June 2007; accepted 20 September 2007

Abstract Quality changes of fresh endives were related to packaging condition and development of the internal atmosphere composition. Three packaging conditions were tested at 20 C: a macroperforated oriented polypropylene (OPP) pouch considered as unmodied atmosphere packaging (UAP) and a low density polyethylene (LDPE) pouch with or without an individual oxygen scavenger sachet to create active or passive modied atmosphere packaging (MAP), respectively. With a steady modied atmosphere composed of 3 and 4.5 kPa of O2 and CO2 , respectively, the effect of passive MAP on colour changes in endives was similar to that of UAP. Benet of MAP of endives was obtained by using an O2 scavenger, i.e. active MAP, that did not change O2 and CO2 partial pressure during the steady state period, compared to passive MAP, but induced a 50% reduction of the transient period. This reduction led to an important delay in greening and browning of endives. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Oxygen absorber; Modied atmosphere packaging; Colour; Endives; Image analysis

1. Introduction Cichorium intybus L., commonly known as endive, chicory or witloof, is largely consumed either fresh in salads, or blanched, to reduce possible bitterness. Its whiteness and morphology, oblong leaves forming a rosette such as bud, are the most important quality to motive consumer purchase and consumption decisions (Bais and Ravishankar, 2001; Ragaert et al., 2004). However, its commercial value is depressed during postharvest storage or commercialisation since this produce continues to grow, leading to elongation and opening of leaves as well as greening resulting from chlorophyll formation in the chloroplast, mainly due to light exposure. It is also subject to microbial contamination and disorders such as brown necrosis observed on the edge of outer leaves or red colouration of the basal part due to oxidation of phenolic compounds (Vanstreels et al., 2002). These losses in quality can be delayed by maintaining low temperature along the supply chain, as found in most centres of retailing in Europe for fresh-cut produce, with storage at about 58 C. However, raw endives are mainly sold at ambient temperature

Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 467 144 207; fax: +33 467 144 990. E-mail address: c-guillaume@univ-montp2.fr (C. Guillaume).

and there is still a need for technical solutions for extending their storage time. Several studies have reported some benecial effects of gas concentration on the shelf-life of fresh endives, raw or cut (Bennik et al., 1996; Van de Velde and Hendrickx, 2001; Vanstreels et al., 2002; Jacxsens et al., 2003; Charles et al., 2005). For instance, some studies have proposed low (2%) oxygen levels (Vankerschaver et al., 1996) or atmospheres composed of 10% oxygen and 10% carbon dioxide (Vanstreels et al., 2002), at 5 C, for reducing browning of endives. However, so far, no recommendations have been provided on the greening of endives. MAP has been developed over the last decades as a technique to retain high quality of vegetables. Passive MAP, where effects are derived from product respiration rate and gas permeability of the packaging lm, induces a passively established steady state after a long transient period. With active MAP, initial gas ushing or the introduction of a gas scavenging system within the package is used to accelerate gas composition modication to avoid product exposure to high concentrations of unsuitable gases (Vermeiren et al., 1999). A previous study has demonstrated the potential interest of using an oxygen scavenger in active MAP to reduce the transient period duration without modifying the equilibrium gas composition (Charles et al., 2003).

0925-5214/$ see front matter 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.postharvbio.2007.09.026

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The objective of this work was to study the inuence of active MAP on colour changes of raw endives. Fresh endives were packaged in macroperforated oriented polyproylene (OPP) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) pouches with presence or absence of an individual oxygen scavenger sachet, to establish active or passive MAP, respectively. Storage conditions were chosen to simulate retail sales conditions: a temperature of 20 C and daylight illumination. Headspace gas composition was followed and related to the colour of endives, evaluated by sensory analysis and image processing, head opening and total chlorophyll content determination. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Material Fresh endives (Cichorium intybus L.) were supplied by the Centre Technique Interprofessionnel des Fruits et L egumes (CTIFL) of Arras (France) and transported to the laboratory within 1 day after harvest. They were selected for no visual defects on leaves and basal parts, and then kept at 20 C under ambient air for 2 h before their use. LDPE lm of 50 m thickness (BBA EmballageManu Pack, St-Jean de V edas, France) and macroperforated OPP lm of 35 m thickness with four 6 mm diameter holes for a 28 cm 25.5 cm pouch (Saint-Andr e Plastique, Saint Andr e de lEspine, France) were used as packaging materials. At 20 C and 100% RH, O2 and CO2 permeability values for the LDPE lm were 1078 1018 and 4134 1018 mol m1 s1 Pa1 , respectively. Oxygen scavenger sachets, type ATCO LH-100, were supplied by Standa Industrie (Caen, France). They were composed of small and gas permeable sachets (made of paper coated with perforated polypropylene) and contained reduced iron compounds (m = 2.55 g). ATCO LH-100 was food compatible and self-activated with a maximum oxygen absorption capacity of about 100 mL O2 . 2.2. Storage conditions A known weight of endives (around 550 g corresponding to four or ve chicories) was packaged in 28 cm 25.5 cm (S = 0.14 m2 ) exible pouches and stored at 20 C under daylight illumination, typical retail conditions. Three packaging conditions were applied consisting of sealed endives in macroperforated OPP pouches or in LDPE pouches with or without an individual oxygen scavenger sachets. Analysis of gas headspace was regularly performed over about 8 days, and samples were removed for image processing and visual appearance assessment at time 0 and after 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 days of storage. Total chlorophyll content was also determined at day 0 and after 3 and 7 days of storage. 2.3. Gas analysis Headspace gas composition was determined by withdrawing10 L samples through a silicone septum glued onto the lm

and gases were analysed using gas chromatography (GC) with a microgas chromatograph (Varian, CP2003, Les Ulis, France). The GC conditions were as follows: a molecular sieve 5A PLOT (4 m, 0.32 mm, T = 40 C) for O2 , N2 and Ar and a poraPLOT Q (10 m, 0.25 mm, T = 80 C) for CO2 . Helium was used as a carrier gas with a ow rate of 40 mL/min. Both manifolds were tted with thermal conductivity detectors. 2.4. Digital image processing Samples were placed onto a black background and illuminated by a light source, which consisted of two parallel neon lamps (Neon OSRAM L18W/12, Daylight de Luwe, Germany) separated by a distance of 60 cm and both located 20 cm from the sample. The angle between the camera lens axis and the light source axis was around 45 . A digital camera (DSC-S75, Sony) recorded images on an electric light sensor made up of 3.3 million pixels with a resolution of 1.600 1.200 pixels. The camera was at a distance of 8 cm from the sample position and macro was used. By connecting the camera to the USB port of a computer, images of head or basal part of endives were captured for colour analysis and assessment of relative increase in head size. 2.5. Digital image analysis: external colour and head size of endives Parts of interest of images were selected with the Photoshop software program (Adobe Systems Inc., San Jose, CA, USA) and its selection tool Rectangular Marquee. The area of the region of interest was dened as the number of pixels contained within its boundary. Selected images were then transferred and analysed with the toolbox Image Processing of Matlab software (The Mathworks Inc., Natick, USA) which can display colour in L* a* b* . This colour model was selected based on its documented adequacy for theoretically quantifying colour changes in vegetables and for its matching of sensitivity of human eyes (Shewfelt et al., 1988). L* is the luminance or lightness and ranges from 0 to 100, a* (from green to red) and b* (from blue to yellow) are the two chromatic components and range from 120 to +120. As values of L* , a* and b* have a large variation partly due to the variability of fresh samples, L* , a* and b* (Eq. (1)) were preferred in this work to describe colour changes, since they represent a kind of standardisation. The total colour difference was also calculated (Eq. (2)).
X = Xt X0

(1)
1/2

E = [( a )2 + ( b )2 + ( L )2 ]

(2)

where X* is considered as the L* , a* or b* reading, subscript t corresponds to the day of analysis and subscript 0 corresponds to day 0. On each image of a head of endives (with identical dimension), the amount of pixels of the selected region was evaluated at day 0 of the experiment (ST0 ) and at the time of analysis (ST ), to then the relative increase of head size calculated as follows

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F. Charles et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 48 (2008) 2229

(Eq. (3)): RI (%) = S T0 S T 100 ST0 (3)

2.6. Visual appearance A trained panel consisting of 10 people evaluated the colour of 4 samples for each of the three different packaging conditions, initially and throughout the experimental period, by using a visual reference. Greening of endives was monitored using attributes on a scale of 03 where 0, white/yellow; 1, yellow/pale green; 2, green and 3, dark green. Red discolouration of endives was also judged using a scale of 03 where 0, white; 1, yellow; 2, few red pigment and 3, a lot of red pigment. 2.7. Total chlorophyll determination Chlorophyll was extracted from macerated endive tissue with 0.3 g calcium carbonate by homogenizing it in 62.5 mL of 80% acetone with a mortar for 3 min. The homogenate was ltered and the ltrate was completed to 125 mL with 80% acetone. The absorbance was read at 665 and 649 nm on a spectrophotometer (UV-1700, Shimadzu) and the total chlorophyll content (Ct) was calculated in mg mL1 acetone according to the equation of Vernon (1960) indicated below (Eq. (4)), and then expressed in mg.100 g1 of endive. Ct = 6.45A665 + 17.72A649 (4)

Fig. 1. Changes in O2 (open mark) and CO2 (full mark) partial pressure within pouches lled with 550 g of endives as a function of time of storage, at 20 C, and packaging condition: macroperforated OPP ( , ), LDPE ( , ) or LDPE combined with an O2 scavenger sachet ( , ). Data are from one experiment performed in December 2002.

where A665 and A649 is the absorbance value at 665 and 649 nm, respectively. 2.8. Statistical analysis Experiments were conducted on two independent harvests in December 2002 and December 2003, representing more than 400 endives. For each batch and each time of analysis, endives were removed for image processing, visual appearance assessment and total chlorophyll determination and measurements were performed in triplicate on each sample. Analysis of variance was performed on mean values and the least signicant difference between pair wise means was then calculated at a level of signicance lower than 0.05. 3. Results and discussions 3.1.1. Package inuence on changes in gas composition Changes in O2 and CO2 partial pressures at 20 C for the three packaging conditions, sealed endives in macroperforated OPP pouches and in LDPE pouches with or without an individual oxygen scavenger sachet, are shown in Fig. 1. These data come from one experiment performed in December 2002. As expected, macroperforations of the OPP pouch allowed sufcient gas exchange to maintain an internal atmosphere, inside the pouch, equal to air composition (about 21 kPa of

O2 , 0 kPa of CO2 and 79 kPa of N2 ), whatever the duration of storage. Macroperforated OPP endive pouches were then considered as unmodied atmosphere packaging (UAP). With LDPE pouches, with or without the oxygen scavenger, a classical modication of the internal atmosphere was observed: O2 partial pressure decreased whereas CO2 partial pressure increased, during a transient period, to reach a steady state different from air, a so-called equilibrium modied atmosphere (MA). As expected and in agreement with previous results (Pretel et al., 2000; Charles et al., 2003), differences between passive (without an O2 scavenger) and active MAP (with an O2 scavenger) were observed during the transient period. With regard to the shape of the curves, the introduction of an O2 scavenger sachet inside LDPE pouches led to a rapid equilibration of the atmosphere. A steady state was reached after approximately 4 days of storage under passive MAP against 2 days with active MAP. That represented a 50% reduction in the transient period. In addition, a CO2 peak (around 7 kPa) appeared after 2 days of storage under passive MAP whereas it disappeared with active MAP. This peak has already been observed in other work on passive MAP of fresh mushrooms (Barron et al., 2002), cherries (Salvador et al., 2002) or tomatoes (Charles et al., 2003). It was attributed to the high respiration activity of fresh produce, at elevated O2 concentrations, that leads to a high production of CO2 exceeding the amount that can permeate through the packaging material. In active MAP, i.e. LDPE pouches with an oxygen scavenger, O2 partial pressure was reduced more quickly and should reduce the respiration activity of endives more quickly than in passive MAP. The CO2 peak was absent in UAP of endives since high gas permeability caused by macroperforations should allow sufcient permeation of CO2 (Fishman et al., 1995). During the steady state, endive respiration (O2 consumption and CO2 production) was balanced by O2 and CO2 diffusion through the LDPE lm, and O2 and CO2 partial pressures reached a value of 3.0 0.5 and 4.5 0.5 kPa, respectively. These values are close to those recommended by Mannapperuma

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Table 1 Sensorial score for greening of leaves and browning of basal part of endives stored during 7 days at 20 C under UAP (with macroperforated OPP), passive MAP (with LDPE) and active MAP (with LDPE combined with one O2 scavenger sachet) Day of storage UAP Greening 1 2 3 4 6 7 0.7 1.7 2.0 2.7 3.0 3.0 0.5 0.5 0.1 0.5 0.1 0.0 Browning 2.0 2.5 3.0 2.5 1.2 1.7 0.1 0.5 0.1 0.5 0.5 0.9 Passive MAP Greening 0.7 1.0 2.0 2.5 3.0 2.7 0.5 0.3 0.1 0.5 0.2 0.5 Browning 2.0 1.5 2.0 1.2 1.2 1.2 0.1 0.9 0.1 0.5 0.5 0.4 Active MAP Greening 0.0 0.5 0.2 1.5 2.0 2.0 0.0 0.3 0.1 0.5 0.1 0.1 Browning 0.0 1.2 1.0 1.5 1.0 1.0 0.0 0.9 0.8 0.1 0.1 0.1

Index of greening is from 0 to 3, where 0 is considered to be white/yellow and 3 is dark green. Index of browning of basal part is from 0 to 3, where 0 corresponds to white and 3 to the presence of a lot of red pigment. At day 0, initial score values for greening or browning of endives were considered to be 0.

et al. (1989), 34% of O2 and 45% of CO2 , for maintaining, at refrigerated temperature, acceptable produce appearance and quality and for extending shelf-life. Other studies have described the inuence of modied or controlled gas conditions on the change in specic quality criteria of endives. For instance, low O2 levels (Vankerschaver et al., 1996) or atmospheres composed of 10% O2 and 10% CO2 (Van de Velde and Hendrickx, 2001; Vanstreels et al., 2002) could maintain high consumer acceptability of cut endives or prevent red colouration. However, so far, no recommendation has been reported on the effect of atmosphere on the two main quality criteria for endives, i.e. greening of leaves and head opening.

3.2. Effect of modied atmosphere on the leaf greening Trained panellists evaluated colour changes in endive leaves and sensory scores are presented in Table 1. Greening increased with time and was higher and faster in UAP and passive MAP, without signicant differences between these two packaging conditions, than in active MAP. Leaves of endives were judged as green after 3 days of storage at 20 C in UAP and passive MAP whereas 6 days were required in active MAP to obtain the same score. Fig. 2 illustrates heads of endives, at time zero and after 3 and 7 days of storage at 20 C in UAP, passive and active MAP.

Fig. 2. Digital photographs of head of endives: at day 0 and after 3 and 7 days of storage at 20 C under UAP (macroperforated OPP), passive MAP (LDPE) or active MAP (LDPE combined with an O2 scavenger sachet).

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Fig. 4. Relative increase of head size of endives as a function of time of storage, at 20 C, and packaging condition: macroperforated OPP (), LDPE ( ) or LDPE combined with an O2 scavenger sachet ( ). Vertical lines represent the average values means LSD intervals at P < 0.05, n = 28.

Fig. 3. External colour change of leaves during storage at 20 C in package made of macroperforated OPP (), LDPE ( ) or LDPE combined with an O2 scavenger sachet ( ), and expressed as (a) a-chrominance difference a* , (b) lightness difference L* and (c) total colour difference E* . Vertical lines represent the average values means LSD intervals at P < 0.05, n = 28.

Such digital photographs were captured and analysed by image processing. E* increased (Fig. 3a) and indicated a high total colour difference of leaves from time zero. During the rst 2 days, the E* augmentation was higher in UAP compared to passive MAP. After this time, no signicant difference in E* values was observed between these two packaging conditions. In active MAP, the E* increase was signicantly less important than in passive MAP and UAP. Moreover, between day 6 and day 7, E* signicantly decreased in active MAP to an unexpected extent, whereas greening was still visible. The reversal of E* may have been due to the opening of the heads of endives such as suggested in previous work for a reversal in E* during lettuce storage (Castaner et al., 1996). Indeed, a signicant head opening of endives was actually observed between day 6 and day 7 in active MAP compared to both UAP and passive MAP (Fig. 4). This opening, resulting in a change of the sample surface, could induce a modication of the image analysis due to a different light perception. Fig. 4 also showed the general positive inuence of active MAP on the delay of endive head opening compared to both UAP and passive MAP.

The E* increase was the result of the simultaneous L* , a* and b* changes and these parameters were evaluated independently. b* did not change signicantly during storage (data not shown). The negative value of L* increased in UAP and passive MAP, without signicant differences between these two packaging conditions, and indicated a darkening of tissues whereas in active MAP, L* remained quite constant during the whole storage duration (Fig. 3b). The negative value of a* increased with time of storage, indicating an increase in the green component colour (Fig. 3c). This change in a* was more pronounced in UAP and passive MAP, without signicant differences between these two packaging conditions except at days 6 and 7, than in active MAP. It should be noted that, in active MAP, a lag time was observed during the rst day and that the negative value of a* signicantly decreased after 6 days of storage and could be related to the reversal of E* at the same time. Finally, image analysis indicated a higher greening in UAP and passive MAP than in active MAP that conrmed the visual colour evaluation by trained panellists. In plants, the green colour is due to chlorophyll located in chloroplasts. During storage, some non-coloured and lesscoloured precursors of green colour are converted into more visible green colour intensity (Tijskens et al., 2001). Thus, the total chlorophyll content of endives was evaluated at day 0, 3 and 7 (Fig. 5) and an increase was noted as a function of time

Fig. 5. Total chlorophyll content in endives stored at 20 C under UAP (macroperforated OPP), passive MAP (LDPE) or active MAP (LDPE combined with an O2 scavenger sachet): at day 0 and after 6 and 13 days of storage. Vertical lines represent the average values means LSD intervals at P < 0.05, n = 15.

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whatever the storage conditions. Endives stored in UAP exhibited the highest chlorophyll content at days 3 and 7. Signicant differences in total chlorophyll content between endives stored in UAP and passive MAP were not correlated with sensory or image analysis, and did not allow distinguishing of signicant differences between these two packaging conditions. Endives stored under active MAP showed the lowest total chlorophyll amount at days 3 and 7, conrming results obtained with sensory or image analysis on the positive oxygen scavenger effect on greening reduction. As chlorophyll biosynthesis contains at least 10 steps requiring light and oxygen to induce oxidation (Von Wettstein et al., 1995), it could be concluded that O2 depletion due to the O2 scavenger or to a lesser extent due to the MAP, reduced the oxidation reaction and so delayed the greening of the leaves. 3.3. Effect of modied atmosphere on the browning of the basal parts of endives Endives were presented to trained panellists to evaluate the browning of basal parts (Table 1). In UAP and passive MAP, red spots appeared quickly and a maximum red colour was reached after 3 days of storage at 20 C. Then, the browning decreased and endives was judged yellow. From day 2 to day 4, scores were roughly lower in passive MAP than in UAP, suggesting a benecial effect of passive MAP. In active MAP, the basal

parts of endives remained white/yellow all over the period of storage. Digital photographs of the basal parts of endives, such as those presented in Fig. 6, were captured and the L* a* b* colour values were evaluated versus time. Change in E* is presented in Fig. 7a. Whatever the storage conditions, E* sharply increased during the rst day in the following order: UAP > passive MAP > active MAP. In UAP, this value slightly decreased between days 1 and 3, with a more pronounced effect between days 3 and 4, and then remained constant until the end of storage. In passive MAP, E* remained constant between days 1 and 2, increased between days 2 and 3, and then slightly decreased until the end of storage. However, E* values from days 4 to 7 were higher than in UAP. Finally, in active MAP, E* remained stable until day 4, with signicant lower values compared to the two other packaging conditions, and then decreased. To interpret E* results, L* , a* and b* changes with time were evaluated. L* did not change signicantly during storage (data not shown). Regarding UAP and passive MAP, a* increased during the rst days of storage, indicating a browning of basal parts of endives (Fig. 7c). Then from day 3, a* decreased signicantly in both cases. Simultaneously after the rst days of storage, b* increased indicating a yellowing of samples (Fig. 7b), which was more pronounced in endives stored under passive MAP than in UAP. This trend could be clearly related to the browning of endives (decrease of a* ) stored under

Fig. 6. Digital photographs of the basal part of endives: at day 0 and after 3 and 7 days of storage at 20 C under UAP (macroperforated OPP), passive MAP (LDPE) or active MAP (LDPE combined with an O2 scavenger sachet).

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F. Charles et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 48 (2008) 2229

the occurrence of the red colouration (Vanstreels et al., 2002). For lettuces (Castaner et al., 1996), apples (Soliva-Fortuny et al., 2001) or pears (Furuta et al., 1992), low amounts of O2 also reduced the browning process. In this work, when endives were packaged in active MAP, few red pigments appeared and the sensory score never exceeded 1.5. Thus the introduction of the O2 scavenger sachet in the LDPE pouche, and the consequent depletion in O2 content, might be proposed to decrease red colouration of the basal parts of endives. 4. Conclusion In this study, detrimental colour changes of endives were related to packaging conditions and, consequently, to changes in internal atmosphere composition. Macroperforations of the OPP pouch allowed sufcient gas exchange to maintain an internal atmosphere equal to air composition whereas LDPE pouches, with or without an O2 scavenger sachet, induced a steady state with O2 and CO2 partial pressures of about 3 and 5 kPa. These values are close to those recommended by Mannapperuma et al. (1989) to maintain acceptable visual appearance of endives. However benecial effects of MAP were only obtained with active MAP, reducing the transient period of 50%, compared to passive MAP, and, consequently, accelerated the setting up of the modied atmosphere. The important delay in greening and browning of endives was mainly attributed to the rapid depletion of O2 that occurred in active MAP. Further studies could be conducted with other O2 -sensitive produce or combined effects of O2 and CO2 scavengers. To understand better the detrimental colour change, research dealing with and focused on the understanding of the processes involved in the modication of the different fruit and vegetables pigments might be proposed. References
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Fig. 7. External colour change of the basal part of endives during storage at 20 C in package made of macroperforated OPP (), LDPE ( ) or LDPE combined with an O2 scavenger sachet ( ) and expressed as (a) a-chrominance difference a* , (b) b-chrominance difference b* and (c) total colour difference E* . Vertical lines represent the average values means LSD intervals at P < 0.05, n = 36.

the same conditions, meaning that, for storage longer than 3 days at 20 C, red intensity decreased to the benet of yellow colour appearance. This is in agreement with sensory scores obtained for endives stored under UAP and passive MAP. With regard to endives stored in active MAP, a* increased during the rst day to a lower extend than UAP and passive MAP, remained constant until day 3, slightly increased between days 3 and 4, and then decreased. The same change was observed with b* . For this packaging condition, browning ( a* ) and yellowing ( b* ) of endive basal parts both decreased after 4 days of storage and were consistent with sensory analysis. The pigments forming rst red then yellow have already been observed as quinones when using sulfhydryl compounds (Cheynier et al., 1986), and the same phenomenon could be proposed for endives stored at 20 C for 7 days. The browning process results from the oxidation of phenolic compounds catalyzed by polyphenoloxidase into quinones and their subsequent polymerization by both enzymatic and non-enzymatic reactions. With endives, it has been demonstrated that the storage in a controlled atmosphere (10 kPa O2 10 kPa CO2 ) strongly reduced

F. Charles et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 48 (2008) 2229 Atmosphere Research Conference, Other Commodities and Storage Recommendations. Wenatchee, WA, June 1416, pp. 225233. Pretel, M.T., Souty, M., Romojaro, F., 2000. Use of passive and active modied atmosphere packaging to prolong the postharvest life of three varieties of apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.). Eur. Food Res. Technol. 211, 191198. Ragaert, P., Verbeke, W., Devlieghere, F., Debevere, J., 2004. Consumer perception and choice of minimally processed vegetables and packaged fruits. Food Qual. Prefer. 15, 259270. Salvador, M.L., Jaime, P., Oria, R., 2002. Modeling of O2 and CO2 exchange dynamics in modied atmosphere packaging of Burlat cherries. J. Food Sci. 67, 231235. Shewfelt, R.L., Thai, C.N., Davis, J.W., 1988. Prediction of changes in color of tomatoes during ripening at different constant temperatures. J. Food Sci. 53, 14331437. Soliva-Fortuny, R.C., Grigelmo, M.N., Odriozola-Serrano, I., Gorinstein, S., Martin-Belloso, O., 2001. Browning evaluation of ready-to-eat apples as affected by modied atmosphere packaging. J. Agric. Food Chem. 49, 36853690.

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