Fresh-cut fruits are perishable due to continuous physiological reactions and potential bacterial contamination, which results in quantitative food waste. Nowadays, modified atmosphere technologies are used to inhibit the deterioration of fruits; however, those processes need a time-consuming and costly pre-mixed gas.

The purpose of this study was to develop a one-step dual-mode MAP process to extend the shelf life of fresh-cut fruits, which was achieved by nitrogen flush and passive modification. Assorted fresh-cut fruits were packed in LDPE and/or permeable materials (P-film), nitrogen flushed for 10-15 sec, and sealed. Samples were then placed at ambient temperature for atmosphere passively modified before storage at 5°C, followed by analysis of quality including gas composition, texture properties, color difference (ΔE), and total bacterial counts.

The results showed that the oxygen contents after nitrogen flushing were determined to be 5%, and decreased to 3% after passive modification for 2 hr. The average respiration rates of the LDPE and P-film groups were 0.79±0.10 and 1.72±0.38 mL/kg/h, respectively. In terms of quality index, the MAP samples showed the hardness was preserved at 80% or up of initial values at the end of storage, and the ΔE for cherry tomatoes, papaya, and guava were less than 5, indicating no visible difference, where guava slices showed brownness on the cutting surface in controls. Additionally, the microbial counts in the controls were 4.05±0.68-6.60±0.77 log CFU/g, which was significantly higher than those in both MAP groups (LDPE 3.06±0.21-5.45±0.39 and P-film 2.65±0.43-4.53±0.10) stored at 5 °C for 168 h, where no significant difference in microbial counts was observed between the MAP groups.

In summary, the dual-mode modified atmosphere packaging technique is beneficial to a simple process, and effectively leads to food waste prevention and longer shelf life of assorted fresh-cut fruits, thus demonstrating its feasibility in the food industry.

Keywords：dual-mode MAP, fresh-cut fruits, permeable film, respiration rate, food waste prevention, shelf life