Effect of temperature on the cell wall composition of raisins during storage under a modified atmosphere

Abstract

Raisins obtained from seedless grapes ("Flame" variety) were kept under a modified atmosphere (MA) composed of CO2 (60%) and N2 (40%), and stored at 10 °C (10MA), 20 °C (20MA), 30 °C (30MA) and 40 °C (40MA). An additional sample was stored under air at 20 °C (20A). Colour, and changes in cell wall components were monitored during storage. At the end of the storage period, the 40MA and 20A samples showed a significant decrease (∼18–19%) in the yield of cell wall material (CWM), whereas less than 6% of CWM had been degraded in the 10MA sample. The decrease in CWM was mainly due to pectic polysaccharide degradation, although for 20A and 40MA samples, hemicelluloses were also affected. Throughout storage, 10MA, 20MA and 30MA samples exhibited similar CWM solubility; however, that of the 40MA sample underwent a significant decrease, from 10% to 4.5%, probably due to the formation of new pectic chains of higher molecular weight. In contrast, the CWM solubility of sample 20A increased from 10% to 15%, suggesting that MA may have promoted the inhibition of pectic-polysaccharide-degrading enzymes. In general, the combined use of relatively low temperatures and a MA helped to preserve both the colour of raisins and maintain the levels of their CWMs at values similar to initial concentrations.