Comparison of the Influence of Individual Seal-packaging and Tray Wrap on Moisture Loss and Quality of ‘Valencia’ Orange

Individual sealing and tray wrap of orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck cv. ‘Valencia’) with heat-shrinkable films of low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), oriented polypropylene (OPP) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) were held for a period up to 4 months at 5°C and 85-90% RH. Both methods of film-packaging showed little change in the water relations characteristics, while unwrapped orange lost weight and showed a decrease in the water content of the peel throughout the storage period. Levels of water loss for fruit in over-wrapped trays were greater than in individual sealing packages. Regardless of film thickness, two methods of packaging in LDPE, HDPE, OPP and PVC films inhibited fruit weight loss at maximum and minimum amounts, respectively. However, film thickness had less effect on fruit weight loss than chemical composition of the films. Comparison between tray wrap and individual sealing on total acid, °Brix, flavor and incident of decay showed similar trends, and composition of films did not appear to have any deleterious effect on the juice quality factors. So far, it was observed that the tray wrap technique as individual sealing maintained the freshness of fruit. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________