Pineapple - Tropical and Subtropical Fruits: Postharvest Physiology, Processing and Packaging - page 331

When whole pineapple fruit are inoculated with
Salmonella spp., a NaClO wash with 200 mg/liter for
5 min is more effective than a hot water dip treatment at
50 ◦ or 60 ◦ C for 3 min (Manuwong et al., 2007). Salmonella
spp.-inoculated fruit dipped in hot water (50 ◦ C) containing
200 mg/liter NaClO for 3 min reduces the count number
in peel and flesh without affecting quality attributes (color
and firmness).

Sorting
(variety, maturity, low translucency and browning)

Whole fruit washing
(reduces contamination)

Peeling and cutting
Presentation
(based on consumers preferences and low microbial growth)

Peeling and cutting
Peeling and cutting of fruit are done mechanically. The
extent of cutting, slicing, and cubing done increases the
likelihood of higher microbial counts with higher microbial
counts being found on cubed than sliced fruit (Bonnas et al.,
2003; Antoniolli et al., 2004). Silva et al. (2003) observed
that pineapple had lower microbial counts during storage
when cut into slices rather than in trapezes. Slices were
preferred to cubes (Antoniolli et al., 2005a) and quarter
slices (Hernandez, 2008) and exhibited a longer shelf life.

Cut fruit sanitation
(increases shelf life)

Treatments
(minimize deteriorations: transluency and browning)

Packaging
(packaging film and MAP increase quality and shelf life)

Treatments
Antoniolli et al. (2005b) recommended sanitizing the slices
with 20 mg/liter of NaClO for 30 sec even though the load
of aerobic mesophiles fungi and yeasts is almost the same
as the untreated samples. Hernandez (2008) recommended
using 100 mg/liter of NaClO to achieve a greater safety
margin.
Antimicrobial natural products have been evaluated
on minimally processed pineapple cultivar 'Perola.'
Antoniolli et al. (2004) evaluated vanilla at 3,000 and 5,000
mg/liter for 30 sec and concluded that a treatment with
5,000 mg/liter of vanilla is effective in reducing aerobic
mesophillic counts in slices but not in cubes after 12 days
of storage at 4 ◦ C, neither vanilla treatment was effective at
slowing molds and yeast growth.
Edible coatings can be used to control microbiological
growth for pineapple slices. The exposure of diced pineap-
ple to a methyl jasmonate emulsion ensured the safety
and the quality of fresh-cut pineapple (Martinez-Ferrer and
Harper, 2005). Pilon et al. (2006a) found lower microbial
counts in slices coated with an edible gluten film than in
the control or those coated with alginate. A chitosan coat-
ing is more effective at reducing microbial counts than
carboxymethylcelullose (Nascimento Viana et al., 2006;
Hernandez, 2008). Pineapple slices coated with 2% chi-
tosan maintain better microbial quality after 10 days of
storage at 5 ◦ C than the untreated fruit (Hernandez, 2008).
Montero-Calderon et al. (2008) found a decrease in the
juice leakage of fresh-cut 'Gold' pineapple treated with
1% alginate application.

Storage at - 5 ° C
(increases shelf life, slows phytochemicals deterioration
and microbial growth)

Figure 18.3. General flowchart for producing
fresh-cut pineapple.

of brightness when processed than 60-70% orange fruit
(Hernandez, 2008).

Washing
Pineapple grows very close to the ground and has an ir-
regular structure capable of accommodating a relatively
high degree of dirt. Therefore washing the whole fruit is
an essential step in processing to remove dirt and soil.
The most commonly used sanitizer is chlorine as sodium
hypochlorite (NaClO) to minimize cross-contamination.
Sodium hypochlorite's advantages are its low cost, ease
of use and control, and large microbicidal spectrum. Vari-
ous concentration and exposures times have been reported
for washing whole pineapple, for example, 200 mg/liter for
2-15 min (Pilon et al., 2006a; Sarzi de Souza et al., 2006;
Antoniolli and Benedetti, 2006). Hernandez et al. (2006)
evaluated 2, 5, 10, 15, and 5

5 min fruit immersion
treatments in chlorinated water (200 mg NaClO/liter) and
concluded that 5 min was the best treatment time to ensure
minimal microbial load.

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