Effect of Moisture Absorber and High-Density Polyethylene Bags on Shelf Life of Edible Coated Jaggery Cubes During Storage

Abstract

Designed experiments were carried out to study the behavior of moisture absorber and high-density polyethylene bags for increasing the shelf life of jaggery cubes stored under ambient conditions for 150 days of storage period. The results revealed that coated jaggery cubes were packed in HDPE bags with moisture absorber in preventing the absorption of moisture content inside the package to maintain the quality of jaggery cubes. Minimum changes in water activity, reducing sugar, TVC, and colour of jaggery cubes were obtained due to the presence of moisture absorber kept into HDPE bags. The water activity, colour difference (ΔE) and TVC decreased with increase in the thickness of HDPE bags followed by moisture absorber; it maintains the dry conditions inside the bags and forms uniform matrix over the dried jaggery cubes. The study recommended that coated jaggery cubes can be stored for 150 days at optimum conditions of moisture absorber (1.5 g/l), HDPE bags (100 µm) and concentration of CMC and HPMC (0.8 g/100 ml) without any change in the quality of jaggery.