The efficacy of the combined use of chlorine dioxide and passive modified atmosphere packaging on sweet cherry quality

• Cherries treated with 16 and 20 mg/L ClO2 had better quality compared to control.
• Steady-state equilibrium was achieved by passive atmosphere packaging.
• ClO2 showed deleterious effect on cherry quality at concentration of 25 mg/L.

The efficacy of the combined use of passive modified atmosphere and aqueous chlorine dioxide at various concentrations of 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 25 mg/L on physical and chemical quality attributes of sweet cherry was evaluated during a five weeks storage period at 4 °C. The results showed that ClO2 treatments at concentrations of 16 and 20 mg/L maintained pH, total soluble solid contents and firmness better than other samples at the end of the storage. Untreated samples and samples treated with 25 mg/L ClO2, had higher weight loss and respiration rate than other treated fruit during storage. Steady-state equilibrium was achieved in the passive modified atmosphere packages of ClO2 treated cherries between the second and the fifth weeks of storage. No significant differences were found between untreated and treated samples except for 25 mg ClO2 treated fruit regarding electrolyte leakage. The L* values of ClO2 treated samples ascended with increasing concentrations of ClO2 at each sampling day. ClO2 treatments significantly affected the redness (a*) values of fruit during storage. ClO2 treatment at the concentration of 25 mg/L had a deleterious effect on cherry color and anthocyanins. The cherries treated with 16 and 20 mg/L ClO2 tended to have higher scores than other treated and untreated samples in all sensory attributes. No mold growth was visually observed during the first two weeks of storage in treated cherries except 4 and 8 mg/L ClO2 treated samples. In summary, our work has led us to conclude that combined use of passive modified atmosphere and ClO2 treatments at a concentrations of 16 and 20 mg/L has potential to maintain the quality of sweet cherry.