Yahia Elhadi M. (ed.) Modified and Controlled Atmospheres for the Storage, Transportation, and Packaging of Horticultural Commodities

CRC Press, 2009. — 610 p.In the last two to three decades there have been major changes in food consumption habits, including a significant increase in the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables due to health concerns. These changes have created the need for the development and application of adequate technologies to preserve these perishable food items.
The concept of modified atmospheres (MAs) and controlled atmospheres (CAs) for horticultural commodities originated nearly two centuries ago when Jack Berard in France observed that harvested fruits utilized oxygen and produced carbon dioxide and when fruits were deprived of oxygen they did not ripen, or ripened very slowly. Nearly a century passed before the first principles underlying the scientific basis for the effects of MA=CA were elucidated. It became clear that one of the primary benefits of MA and CA was the effect on the synthesis and action of the plant hormone ethylene needed to initiate fruit ripening and plant organ senescence.
MA and CA have been used for storage, transport, and packaging of foods for the last seven to eight decades. In the 1930s, meat was transported in MA from Australia to Europe. Meat packed and transported in dry ice (carbon dioxide) had better quality than meat packed in conventional ice. In the 1920s, Franklin Kidd and Cyril West in England, and later (1930s and 1940s) several researchers in the United States, including Robert Smock, started the storage of apples in CA as we know it today. The first CA storage room for apples was built near Canterbury, England in 1929. Today more than 10 million tons of apples are stored in CA in many developed and developing countries. The 1980s witnessed major improvements in the technology and a significant increase in its utilization in storage, transport, and packaging of different types of foods. In more recent years there have been more developments in several aspects of the technology, such as modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), transport of fresh commodities in CA, and the use of the technology for insect control (quarantine systems), among others.
MA and CA technologies utilize a process or system in which fresh, perishable commodities (fruits, vegetables, cut flowers, seeds, nuts, and feedstocks) can be either stored, transported, or packaged under narrowly defined environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, and gaseous composition) to extend their useful marketing period after harvest. The absolute or desirable levels of these environmental variables differ according to commodity and stage of development. Moreover, tissue response may vary because of interactions among these variables as influenced by variety and preharvest conditions and climatic factors.
Commercial interest in the development and application of MA and CA for packaging, transportation, and storage of fresh horticultural commodities (fruits, vegetables, and flowers) triggered research in these areas. Commercial application of CA storage is used for apples, pears, kiwifruits, sweet onions, cabbage, and can be used for bananas. Commercial application of MA and CA for long-distance marine transport is used for apples, avocados, bananas, blueberries, cherries, figs, kiwifruits, mangoes, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums, raspberries, melons, grapefruit, strawberries, and some flowers, among other commodities. Commercial application of MA for packaging is used in several intact and fresh-cut commodities. Commercial application of MA and CA for insect control in horticultural commodities has recently been authorized by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
MA and CA involve altering and maintaining (in the case of CA) an atmospheric composition that is different from air composition (about 78%–79% N2, 20%–21% O2, and 0.03% CO2, and trace quantities of other gases); generally, O2 below 8% and CO2 above 1% are used and considered as a supplement to maintenance of optimum temperature and relative humidity (RH) for each commodity in preserving quality and safety of fresh fruits, ornamentals, vegetables, and their products throughout postharvest handling.
Exposure of fresh horticultural crops to low O2 and=or elevated CO2 atmospheres within the range tolerated by each commodity reduces their respiration and ethylene production rates, and therefore results in several beneficial effects such as retardation of senescence (including ripening) and associated biochemical and physiological changes (slowing down rates of softening and compositional changes), reduction of sensitivity to ethylene action, alleviation of certain physiological disorders such as chilling injury, direct and indirect control of pathogens (bacteria and fungi) and consequently decay incidence and severity, and can be a useful tool for insect control. However, outside the range of tolerance, it can lead to incidence of physiological disorders and increased susceptibility to decay, and even fermentation. The objective of applying MA and CA technologies is to extend the useful marketing period for the commodity during storage, transport, and distribution to maintain quality, nutritive value, or market value of the product for eventual consumption over that achievable by the use of controlled temperature only.
The fact that this technology utilizes natural gases and would not cause harmful effects for human health and for the environment made it very appealing as an alternative to chemicals commonly used in foods for the control of diseases and insects. Several MA and CA systems have been developed for several crops as an alternative for agrochemicals, including some insect control protocols that have been accepted a few months ago by USDA as quarantine systems.
Several improvements have been made in recent years on MA and CA technologies, such as better construction of sealed storage rooms and transport containers; better gas monitoring and control systems; new packaging systems; creating nitrogen by separation from compressed air using molecular sieve beds or membrane systems; low O2 (1 kPa) storage; low ethylene (<1mL L 1) CA storage; rapid CA (rapid establishment of optimal levels of O2 and CO2); programmed (or sequential) CA storage (storage in 1 kPa O2 for 2–6 weeks followed by storage in 2–3 kPa O2 for the remainder of the storage period); improved technologies of establishing, monitoring, and maintaining MA and CA; polymeric films with appropriate gas permeability to create a desired atmosphere during packaging; quarantine technologies for insect control; among others. Development of processes to artificially establish and maintain controlled levels of temperature, humidity, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and ethylene has, in some instances, gone beyond the research base, which defines the limits within which these parameters may be applied with predictable success in distributing fresh and wholesome produce to the consumer.
The packaging, transportation, and storage of fresh fruit and vegetables are undertaken on a global scale, which are highly dependent on technology. MA and CA are widely applied techniques and important alternatives to chemical preservatives and pesticides. They have great potential for reducing postharvest losses and for maintaining both nutritional and market value. However, the CA storage technology is only widely used for a few commodities (apples, pears, and to a certain extent kiwifruits, sweet onions, and cabbage), and there is still no agreement in the food industry and among researchers as to its usefulness for many other commodities. However, MA and CA for packaging and transport are applied for several types of foods.
Very few books have been written on MA and CA of perishable foods, and none has covered all aspects of the technology. The only instances when CA=MA has been addressed for a very long time have been the proceedings of the ‘‘international CA research conferences’’ held every four years since 1969, which are not directed or comprehensive (just a compilation of submitted articles), and Thompson’s 1998 book, Controlled Atmosphere Storage of Fruits and Vegetables; although this is an excellent book and very useful as an extensive review of the CA application literature, it does not cover the latest advances in both the application and the basic aspects like modeling, physiology, and biochemistry.
The book by S. Burg (Postharvest Physiology and Hypobaric Storage of Fresh Produce, published by CABI in 2004), is excellent, but only covers hypobaric storage, which is not commercially used. There have been some other books that have dealt with many other types of foods (usually dedicating one or two chapters to perishables), and almost all of these books have dealt only with MAP, covering very little related to transport and storage of perishables in MA and CA.
Following more than 70 years of research and development on MA and CA, this book will trace the historical developments of this technology, providing information on ideal conditions to be used for many horticultural commodities and outlining the effects of MA and CA on physiology and biochemistry of these commodities and on their flavor and quality.
This book is divided into 23 chapters written by 44 experts in research and industry from 13 countries. All the authors are very well-known in different disciplines, and are engaged in research on the basic concepts as well as application of this very important technology.
This book is comprehensive; covering the entire subject for the first time in a single book (storage, transport, packaging, physiological and biochemical aspects, engineering aspects, effects on all commodities, etc.). The chapters cover all aspects of science and application including technological development and applications of MA and CA (storage, transport, and packaging) for all fruits, vegetables, and ornamentals of temperate, subtropical, and tropical origin. A large amount of literature is reviewed on this topic in the book, providing the most comprehensive reference on all basic and applied aspects of MA and CA. The authors are to be appreciated for providing an excellent base of knowledge upon which researchers, students, educators, and industry personnel can advance this important technology.
This book is an essential reading material for horticultural researchers and educators, and food industry personnel concerned with transportation, storage, and packaging of perishable foods. The book should also be of interest to regulatory bodies, consumer groups, and students of horticulture, agriculture, food science and technology, and food marketing. It can serve as an excellent textbook for several graduate and undergraduate courses on postharvest technology, food science and technology, food safety, food processing, food handling, and food engineering.
I hope that this book contributes to the improvement of this important technology, which is vital for the preservation of foods, resulting in increased food availability, improved food safety, and reduced losses.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the efforts of all the authors and for writing excellent chapters presented in the book. I am grateful to the staff at CRC Press=Taylor & Francis who have been very helpful throughout the review and production processes.
If you have any suggestions or comments on the content of the book, please contact the publisher or the editor at yahia@uaq.mx or elhadiyahia@hotmail.com.Preface
Editor
Contributors
1. Introduction. Elhadi M. Yahia
2. Storage Technology and Applications. Ernst Hoehn, Robert K. Prange, and Clément Vigneault
3. Transport Technology and Applications. Patrick E. Brecht, Shawn Dohring, Jeffrey K. Brecht, and Wayne Benson
4. Modified and Controlled Atmosphere Packaging Technology and Applications. Jeffrey S. Brandenburg and Devon Zagory
5. Gas Exchange Modeling. Bart M. Nicolaï, Maarten L.A.T.M. Hertog, Q. Tri Ho, Bert E. Verlinden, and Pieter Verboven
6. Effects on Nutritional Quality. Adel A. Kader
7. Effects on Flavor. Charles F. Forney, James P. Mattheis, and Elizabeth A. Baldwin
8. Effects on Physiological Disorders. Wendy C. Schotsmans, John M. DeLong, Christian Larrigaudière, and Robert K. Prange
9. Effects on Decay. Elhadi M. Yahia and Peter L. Sholberg
10. Microbial Safety of Modified Atmosphere Packaged Fresh-Cut Produce. David O’Beirne and Devon Zagory
11. Effects on Insects. Lisa G. Neven, Elhadi M. Yahia, and Guy J. Hallman
12. Pome Fruits. Jinhe Bai, Robert K. Prange, and Peter M.A. Toivonen
13. Stone Fruits. Carlos H. Crisosto, Susan Lurie, and Julio Retamales
14. Subtropical Fruits. Zora Singh, S.P. Singh, and Elhadi M. Yahia
15. Small Fruit and Berries. Leon A. Terry, Carlos H. Crisosto, and Charles F. Forney
16. Tropical Fruits. Elhadi M. Yahia and S.P. Singh
17. Vegetables. Jeffrey K. Brecht
18. Modified Atmosphere Packaging for Fresh-Cut Produce. Peter M.A. Toivonen, Jeffrey S. Brandenburg, and Yaguang Luo
19. Ornamentals and Cut Flowers. Andrew J. Macnish, Michael S. Reid, and Daryl C. Joyce
20. Dried Fruits and Tree Nuts. Judy A. Johnson, Elhadi M. Yahia, and David G. Brandl
21. Economic Benefits of Controlled Atmosphere Storage and Modified Atmosphere Packaging. Edmund K. Mupondwa
22. Biochemical and Molecular Aspects of Modified and Controlled Atmospheres. Angelos K. Kanellis, Pietro Tonutti, and Pierdomenico Perata
23. Future Research and Application Needs. Adel A. Kader
Index