The use of banana in minimally processed fruit salads have restrictions due to their high lost of firmness after cutting. The goal of this work was to evaluate the effects of ascorbic acid (AA), calcium chloride (CC), L-cysteine hydrochloride (Cis) and Na2EDTA, employed in association with modified atmosphere, on prevention of the softening of minimally processed 'Apple' banana. The following combinations were used: 1 (AA 1% + CC 1% + Cis 0,5%); 2 (AA 1% + CC 1% + Cis 1%); 3 (AA 1% + CC 1% + Cis 1,5%); 4 (Na2EDTA 1%); forming the 4 treatments of a completely randomly design. The bananas, in maturity stage 6, were treated with a sodium hypochlorite solution 500 ppm, peeled and manually sliced, submitted to the chemical treatments by dipping and wrapped with PVC 30µm films. Later, the slices were stored during 5 days at 5 ± 1ºC e 85 ± 3% UR. The mass loss was linear during the storage period and higher in Na2EDTA 1% treated slices. The firmness loss was lesser in the slices under the treatment 3, which presented lower polygalacturonase activity values until the 3rd day of storage. After the second day of storage, the slices under the treatment 4 showed the highest pectinmethylesterase activity, and those under treatments 2 and 3, the lowest. Higher content of soluble pectin and total soluble solids were observed in EDTA treated slices, mainly beginning from the 3rd day of storage. The increase in total soluble sugars was higher in the treatments 1 and 2 until the 3rd day of storage. The chemical mixture 3 (AA 1% + CC 1% + Cis 1,5%) was the most effective in avoiding the softening of minimally processed 'Apple' bananas.
Musa spp.; minimal processing; polygalacturonase; pectinmethylesterase; softening; calcium chloride
