EFFECT OF PACKAGING MATERIALS AND STORAGE TEMPERATURE ON QUALITY OF SOME LOCAL FRUIT JUICES

Abstract

Recent processed orange, mango and guava juices packed in Tetra-Pack, aluminum, foil plastic and glass containers were collected from the local market and evaluated chemically and microbiologically periodically every two months, during 12 months storage at refrigeration temperature (4oC) and room temperature (22-27oC). Results showed that total titrabble acidity (TTA) of the juices decreased in a descending order as follow, aluminum packages, Tetra Pack packages, plastic bottles and glass bottles for juices stored at 4˚C and room temperature .however non-enzymatic browning increased in an ascending order as follows Tetra Pack, aluminum, plastic bottles and glass bottles up to 6 months then started to decrease in the same order. The flavanones content was only affected by the time of storage while the effect of storage temperature and packaging material was quite slight. The material which presented the lowest retention of both ascorbic acid and b-carotene was found to be in glass followed by plastic containers. The aluminum packages presented a poor retention of ascorbic acid. Fruit juice stored at the refrigeration temperature (4oC) retained the desired quality attributes in juices better than juices stored at room temperature (22-27oC). Glass bottles gave greater protection against degradation of the chemical attributes of the fruit juices