Combination of fogging and refrigeration for white asparagus preservation on vegetable stalls

• Fog combined with cold plate refrigeration is an innovative promising technique.
• It allowed extending shelf-life of white asparagus in display stalls.
• Product color and visual changes were insignificant under combined conditions.
• Interpretation of physical phenomena was facilitated through mathematical equations.

The aim of this study was to assess the combined effect of fogging and cold plate refrigeration on white asparagus quality during storage on a vegetable stall. Of the three storage conditions (Control, C; Fog, F; and Fog-Cold plate, FC), FC ensured that white asparagus retained a fresher appearance and had a longer shelf life (at least 5 d). Weight loss was reduced in products stored under FC conditions; meanwhile, weight loss was up to 14% when asparagus were stored under C conditions for 3 d. In the case of asparagus stored under F and C, browning was observed and the visual appearance of the product deteriorated obviously after 1 d, whereas for products stored under FC, such deterioration occurred only after 3 d or more. The results demonstrated that FC could be a promising technique for white asparagus storage on vegetable stalls.