ABSTRACT
Visual appearance of a fresh-cut fruit or vegetable is the attribute most immediately obvious to the consumer and which strongly a•ects its commercial shelf life. Many unrelated factors in¨uence appearance, from wound-related e•ects to drying or to microbial colonization (Toivonen and Brummell 2008). Appearance, which is signi¤cantly impacted by color, is one of the ¤rst attributes used by consumers in evaluating food quality. Color is also critically important in the many dimensions of food choice and in¨uences
28.1 Introduction 263 28.2 Materials and Methods 265
28.2.1 Plant Material and Sample Preparation 265 28.2.2 Color Determination 265 28.2.3 Statistical Analysis 266
28.3 Results and Discussion 266 28.3.1 Color Changes of Fresh-Cut Granny Smith and Princesa
Apples 266 28.3.2 Color Changes of Fresh-Cut Peaches from Di•erent
Cultivars 268 Acknowledgments 270 References 270
the perception of other sensory characteristics by the consumers. Color is a result of a variety of factors both endogenous and exogenous to the food that may be a•ected by genetics and pre-and postharvest treatments (Clydesdale 1998). Color in fruits may be in¨uenced by naturally occurring pigments such as chlorophylls, carotenoids, and anthocyanins in fruits, or by pigments resulting from browning reactions. Browning of fruits and fruit products is one of the major problems in the food industry and is believed to be probably the ¤rst cause of quality loss during postharvest handling, processing, and storage. Browning can also adversely a•ect ¨avor and nutritional value (Lozano 2006).
