Definition of Minimal Processing : Fresh-cut fruits & vegetables that have been trimmed, peeled and cut into a

fully usable form, which are then packed to offer consumers convenience while maintaining the freshness.

Terms used to refer to minimally processed products

• Lightly Processed
• Partially Processed
• Fresh Cut Fruits and Veg.
• Pre-prepared Fruits & Veg.
• Ready – to – Eat/cook Fruits &Veg.

It involves following operations such as : Cleaning Washing Trimming Coring Slicing Shredding and so on

Importance of Minimally Processed F. and V.

• Consumers are becoming more conscious about their food but have less time to prepare
• F and V are to be prepared at the production site,
• pre-packed products helps in reducing the garbage problems in the cities
• Increase in number of working women don’t have time prepare cook/food

Fruits suited for Minimal processing : Slices of Mango, Papaya, Guava, • Water melons, Musk melons • Peeled and
cored pineapple • Peeled citrus fruits • Jack fruit bulbs • Pomegranate arils
Vegetables suited for Minimal Processing: Peeled and sliced Potatoes • Shredded lettuce and cabbage • Washed and
trimmed Spinach • Vegetable snacks : Carrot and • Celery sticks
Cauliflower & Broccoli florets : Cleaned & diced onions • Shelled Green peas • Scrapped Drum Stick
 Flow sheet of minimal processing Fruit
Harvest Receiving Wash and Sanitize

Pre-cooling Peel
Anti-browning Treatment
Washing and disinfection
Shrink wrap or Slicing Packaging / Storage (4-8ºC 1-2
Peeling, days)

Trimming, Distribution

deseeding List of equipment used

• Product bin dumpers
Cutting to specific sizes & Sorting for defects • Elevator belt conveyors
• Automatic sorting machines
• Abrasive peelers or high pressure water peelers
Dipping or Drying • Slicers or other cutting machines
• Continuous washing conveyors
Packaging and labeling • Spin driers, air driers, shakers
• Form-fill-seal packaging machines
Storage and distribution • Weighing, labeling, coding machines
• Boxing & palletizing machines
• Metal detectors
Minimally or light processing refers to:
• trimming
• peeling
• sectioning of fruits and vegetables
• slicing
• coring
❖ • Demand for minimally processed (MP) fruits and vegetables has increased due to
❖ • busy life style
❖ • increased purchasing power
❖ • health conscious trends

Consumers are increasingly demanding

* convenient,
* ready-to-use fruits and
* ready-to-eat vegetables
* with a fresh-like quality
* containing only natural ingredients
• Europe (France & UK) markets for MP fruits and vegetable grow explosively in the start of the 1990’s.
• USA - market share of fresh-cut produce accounts for 25% of all produce sales in the retail market.
Minimally processing of raw fruits and vegetables has two purposes:
• It is important to keep the produce fresh, yet supply it in a convenient form without losing its
nutritional quality.
• The product should have a shelf life sufficient to make its distribution feasible to its intended
consumers

In an ideal case, minimal processing can be seen as “invisible” processing

➢ • The microbiological, sensory and nutritional shelf life of MP fruits or vegetables should be
at least 4 - 7 days but preferably even longer up to 21 days depending on the market
➢ • Loss of ascorbic acid and carotenes is the main limiting factor of nutritional quality.

MP fruits and vegetables are products that contain live tissues or those that have been only
slightly modified from the fresh-condition and are fresh-like in character.
• The tissues do not exhibit the same physiological responses as the normal (raw)
untreated live plant tissues.
• Respiration greatly increases in MP fruits and vegetables
 Figure 1: Diagrams of intact and processed (cut)
fruit or vegetable cell.
• Intact cell is expected to be more resistant to
oxidative browning and entrance of bacteria
compared to the cut cell (MP).

The presence of cut surface complicate the

modeling of gas exchange in polymeric package

Figure 2: Diagram of product in package and product

with surface modification such as from peeling or
slicing.
A - shows intact vegetable product in a package.
B - shows condition of some cut surface cells within
the majority of intact interior cell
Reasons for quality changes in MP produce

MP produce deteriorates because of :

• Physiological ageing which may result in
• Biochemical changes degradation of thecolour,
• Microbial spoilage, texture, flavour spoilage of the produce

• During peeling and grating operations,

* Many cells are ruptured
* intracellular products such as oxidizing enzymes are released

Main spoilage characteristics indicating loss of quality include:

• Development of soft rots
• Mould growth
• Fermentation
• Browning
• Production of off-odours

• To minimize physiological decay, both quality of raw materials and manufacturing processes must be optimized.
1. Physiological and Biochemical Changes
• Most important enzyme with regard to MP fruits & vegetables is polyphenol oxidase (PPO) which causes
browning
• Enzymatic browning requires the present of four different components: -
-Oxygen
-Oxidizing Enzyme
-Copper
- A Suitable Substrate
• To prevent browning, at least one of these components must be removed from the system.

Lipoxidase
• Another important enzyme which catalyzes peroxidation reactions causes formation of numerous bad smelling
aldehydes and ketones

Ethylene production
• Minimal processing increases ethylene (C2H4) production
• C2H4 involves in the biosynthesis of enzymes involved in fruit maturation partially responsible for softening of sliced
fruit.
Respiration activity
• Respiration activity of MP produce will increase 1.2 - 7 fold or even more depending on
• Type of Produce
• Cutting Grade
• Temperature
• If packaging condition are anaerobic leads to anaerobic respiration formation of ethanol, aldehydes and ketones
Microbiological Changes
• Minimal processing damages tissues of produce resulting in leakage of cellular fluids containing nutrients &
intercellular enzymes creates a favourable environment for microbial growth
• Minimal processing (peeling, cutting & shredding) expose surface of produce - to air, possible
contamination with bacteria, yeast and moulds
Factors Affecting the Microbial Stability and Quality of MP Vegetable Salads
1. • Intrinsic factors
2. • Processing factors
3. • Extrinsic factors
4. • Implicit factors
Intrinsic Factors
• pH - varies depending on type of vegetables used.
• Nutrient availability - mixed salads contain wider variety of nutrients than single pack of vegetables.
• Biological structure
• Other factors - Antimicrobial effects of vegetables
Processing Factors
• Washing
• at harvesting may contaminate the produce with water borne microorganism.
• At the processing plant should reduce the microbial load
• Temperature
• blanching reduce/destroy vegetative microbial load
• low temperature (0-5oC) during preparation and storage limits growth of microorganisms

Processing Factors ……
• Other processes factors…….
• processing operations such as chopping, shredding, slicing may contaminate the MP produce
• Assembly of salads may result in contamination from process workers, work surfaces
• Use of low pH dressings lowers pH [For ex: pickling vegetables in vinegar lowers the pH of the vegetables]
• Use of packaging to act as O2 and water barriers and to prevent microbial contamination.
Extrinsic Factors
• Temperature
• temperature fluctuations during transport and retailing
Modified atmosphere packaging
* modified atmosphere packaging influences survival of microorganisms during storage

Benefits of MA cannot be explained solely by a reduction in total microbial number.

• There are other influencing factors such as:
• packaging material used
• relative humidity during storage
• type of produce
• type and number of microorganisms present
• Combination of low temperature storage and MA packaging recommended to enhance quality and to extend
shelf life of MP produce.

Implicit Factors
• Competition between predominant microbial groups. E.g lactic acid bacteria and pseudomonas
• Antagonistic relationships between microbial groups.
• Synergism between microbial group
There is an increase in fresh fruit and vegetable consumption around the world that is mainly motivated by the
recommendations made by different organizations, such as the World Health Organization, the Food and
Agricultural Organization, the US Department of Agriculture, and the European Food and Safety Authority, etc.,
because of their healthy properties.

Fruits and vegetables are important sources of vital micronutrients, phytochemicals (e.g., anthocyanins and
other phenolic compounds), and fiber of great importance from the human nutritional point of view.
In fact, human nutritional research has increasingly shown that a well-balanced diet that is rich in fruits and
vegetables promotes good health, may reduce the risk of certain diseases, and protects against cancers and
chronic illnesses.

Advances in agronomic handling, processing, preservation, distribution, and marketing technologies have
enabled the produce industry to supply nearly all types of high quality fresh fruits and vegetables to those who
desire and are willing to purchase them year-round.

This also allows the agrifood industry to provide consumers with new and a more differentiated food product
assortment.

But, despite the benefits derived from eating raw fruits & vegetables, safety is still an issue of concern.
In the European Union (EU), in 2009 and 2010, 4.4% and 10% of foodborne outbreaks were linked to the
consumption of vegetables, fruits, berries, juices, and related products
Minimally processed fresh fruit & vegetables are defined as any fruit & vegetable that has been subjected to
different processing steps (e.g., peeling, trimming, cutting, washing, disinfection, rinsing, etc.) to obtain a fully
edible product while providing convenience and functionality to consumers & ensuring food safety.

These commodities contain exclusively natural ingredients, packed in polymeric films, under optimal modified
atmosphere packaging (MAP) conditions, and they are kept under chilling until consumption.

MPFVs have similar characteristics to the whole original fruit or vegetable, and need no further processing
before use, offering advantages for consumers,

In addition to convenience, they have high quality and they produce little waste.
The conventional food-processing methods extend shelf life of fruits and vegetable.,
But in minimal processing of fruits and vegetables-reduces the products shelf life required chilled storage to
ensure a reasonable shelf life.

Preparation of MPFVs causes damage to plant tissue in which the natural protective layers are eliminated,
promoting many physical and physiological disorders that accelerate produce decay, reduces shelf life
compared with the intact fruits and vegetables, and provide an easy entry for microbial pathogens and chemical
contaminants.
The deterioration of MPFVs are mainly due to further physiological aging, biochemical changes,
and microbial spoilage, which result from changes in respiration, ethylene (C2H4) emission,
transpiration, and enzymatic activity of the living tissues after processing

❖ Many of the compositional changes influence the MPFVs’

➢ Color,
➢ Texture,
➢ Flavor, and
➢ Nutritive values, leading to an irreversible loss of quality.
➢
❖ The main spoilage changes affecting MPFV are discoloration, off-flavors, softening (loss of crispness
or juiciness), and water loss. Hence, sensory quality can never improve during further storage;
instead, the quality can only be retained or its deterioration can be slowed down

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