Keywords

Carrots, food storage

Abstract

There is interest in the long-term storage of food for applications such as space flight, disaster relief, and personal preparedness. Dehydrated carrots packaged in hermetically sealed cans with a reduced oxygen atmosphere are available in the retail market. The quality of dehydrated carrots stored up to two years has been reported, but the effect of longer-term storage on the quality of the product is unknown. Eleven samples of dehydrated carrots representing 6 brands, packaged in size No.10 cans and stored at room temperature, were obtained from donors. Two fresh samples were purchased as controls. Samples ranged in age from < 1 to 34 years. Can headspace oxygen, can seam integrity, and dehydrated carrot water activity and color were evaluated. Samples were rehydrated for 20 minutes in filtered water that was brought to a boil. A 56-member consumer panel evaluated the rehydrated carrots for appearance, aroma, texture, flavor, and overall acceptability using a 9-point hedonic scale. Acceptance for use in everyday and emergency situations was also determined. Can headspace oxygen ranged from < 0.01% to 14.7%. All can seams were determined to be satisfactory. Water activity of the dehydrated carrots ranged from 0.31 to 0.38. L*, a* and b* values ranged from 37.8 to 44.0, 17.1 to 30.2 and 23.0 to 37.3, respectively. The orange color of most samples faded during storage. Hedonic scores for overall acceptability of dehydrated carrots declined from 7.1 to 3.4. All samples had an acceptance for use in an emergency situation of over 70%. Results indicate that dehydrated carrots decline in quality during long-term storage but retain sufficient sensory acceptance to be considered for use in long-term storage regimens.

Original Publication Citation

Bartholomew SR, Jefferies LK, Pike OA. July 27. Quality of hermetically packaged dehydrated carrots during long-term storage. Poster presentation. Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting.

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

2007-07-01

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/2050

Language

English

College

Life Sciences

Department

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Science

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