Degradative enzymatic activities in fresh-cut blood-orange slices during chilled-storage

Blood-orange fruits are suitable to fresh-cut fruit production because of their chemical compositions. Nevertheless, the main limitation of using freshly cut oranges is their susceptibility to juiciness loss and ascorbic acid degradation because of enzymatic alterations. The aim of this work is: to identify some of the enzymes causing the qualitative decay in blood-orange slices during 15 days of chilled storage (at 4 ± 0.5 °C and 85% RH); to investigate the susceptibility to the previous alterations of five blood-orange clones (Moro nucellare, Sanguinello nucellare, Tarocco arcimusa, Tarocco gallo and Tarocco meli) to select the most suitable one for fresh-cut production. The enzymes studied were: pectinmethylesterase (PME) as index of juiciness loss, ascorbate oxidase (AAO) as index of ascorbic acid's degradation and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) as browning index. As far as we know, the changes of AAO activity during chilled storage of blood-orange fresh-cut slices has not previously reported and studied. Different clones showed different enzymatic activities and quality changes during chilled-storage. In particular a low juiciness loss in orange slices was correlated with a lower PME activity, as described in T. meli clone, while a high degradation of ascorbic acid was correlated with an higher AAO activity, as described in T. gallo clone; PPO activity seemed to have no significant action in quality degradation. Tarocco meli was the most suitable clone to the fresh-cut blood-orange production because it has the lowest enzymatic activity (PME, PPO and AAO) and the highest sensorial quality. © 2009 Institute of Food Science and Technology.