The effect of precooling of lettuces and green beans on the ratio of weight loss and net weight after storage

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the effects of precooling and not precooling lettuce types Lital and Yedikule to +2 and +4°C and fresh bean types Aysekadin and Rodop to +8°C in a vacuum cooler on the weight loss and net weight of the products at the end of storage. No statistical difference in poststorage weight loss was found between vacuum precooling treatments in the lettuce trials; however, there was a significant (p<0.01) effect of vacuum precooling on poststorage weight loss in beans. Packaging of precooled products affected weight loss of lettuces and beans (p<0.01) and (p<0.05) significance, respectively. The weight loss in packaged products at the end of the vacuum cooling process was 1.82 and 0.74% in lettuces and beans, respectively, whereas in unpackaged products it was 5.05 and 2.41%. Plant types and packages affected the net weight of lettuces significance (p<0.01). Lital was the best product type with 42.34% net weight and packaging products was the best method with 44.95% net weight. No change in net weight was observed in the beans because there was no spoilage after storage. © 2006 Asian Network for Scientific Information.