Mild heat treatment inhibits the browning of fresh-cut Agaricus bisporus during cold storage

•Mild heat treatment (MHT) delayed browning and extended shelf-life of sliced mushroom.•The decrease of lightness value and total phenolic content were delayed by MHT 5 min.•MHT 5 min increased antioxidant related enzymes activities.•MHT 5 min reduced the productions of reactive oxygen species.

The effects of mild heat treatment (MHT 1 min and MHT 5 min at 40 °C) on inhibiting browning of sliced mushrooms were assayed during 6 d storage at 4 ± 0.5 °C. The results showed that the mushroom slices treated by MHT 5 min exhibited higher Lightness value and total phenolic content than that of MHT 1 min and control, and the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase and phenylalanine ammonialyase were increased while polyphenol oxidase activity was suppressed. Furthermore, the increase of superoxide anion production rate, malondialdehyde content and hydrogen peroxide content were delayed in sliced mushrooms treated with MHT 5 min. No significant difference on ascorbic acid content and ascorbate peroxidase activity were found in sliced mushroom treated with MHT and control. The results shown that mild heat treatment (40 °C, 5 min) could delay the browning occurrence of sliced mushrooms by improving the activities of antioxidant enzymes and the contents of antioxidants, inhibiting the accumulation of reactive oxygen and the activities of browning related enzymes. And the appropriate heat treatment (40 °C, 5 min) can prolong the shelf-life of sliced mushrooms from 2 days to more than 6 days. The study suggests that MHT (40 °C, 5 min) could be a promising candidate to inhibit browning of sliced button mushrooms.