Controlled atmosphere storage and edible coating effects on storage life and quality of tomatoes

Tomatoes at pink stage maturities were coated with Semperfresh(TM) edible fruit coating which is composed of sucrose esters of fatty acids, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose and mono-diglycerides of fatty acids. One group of coated and uncoated tomatoes were stored at 23 +/- 2C under air atmosphere, another group was stored at 12C under air atmosphere and third group was stored at 12C, 93-95 % RH in a controlled atmosphere (CA) containing 3 % CO2, 3% O-2 and 94% N-2. Samples of tomatoes were analyzed for firmness, weight loss, titratable acidity, pH, soluble solids, sugars, ascorbic acid and lycopene to examine changes in quality during storage. Semperfresh(TM) edible fruit coating was found to be significantly effective at both storage temperatures (23 +/- 2C and 12C) in air to delay changes in firmness, titratable acidity, pH, soluble solids, sugars, ascorbic acid and lycopene. Semperfresh(TM) fruit coating reduced fruit weight loss as compared to fruit without coating but the difference between coated and uncoated tomatoes was not significant. Shelf-life of pink tomatoes was increased 3 days at 23 +/- 2C and 6 days at 12C in air by coating. CA storage delayed compositional changes in tomatoes significantly as compared to air storage of coated and uncoated tomatoes. CA storage also had a significant potential for reducing weight loss and microbial spoilage. Tomatoes were stored 40 days in CA. Coated and uncoated tomatoes exhibited the same results in CA.