Modi®ed atmosphere packaging of white asparagus spears: composition, color and textural quality responses to temperature and light

Freshly harvested white asparagus (Asparagus of®cinalis L.) spears (about 500 g per package) were over-wrapped with a 16 mm stretch ®lm. Packages were kept at 2.58C, 58C, 108C, 158C, 208C and 258C under continuous darkness or light (15 1.9 W mÿ2) for 6 days. At all temperatures, an atmosphere of 4.5±6.9% CO2 and 3±6.7% O2 developed during the ®rst hour; after 8 h, CO2 increased to a maximum of 5.8±9.8%, whereas O2 decreased to a minimum of 0.7±1%. At equilibrium, the atmosphere had 4.6±7% CO2 and about 1% O2. Bract opening (`feathering'), toughening, anthocyanin synthesis and ascorbic acid breakdown were suppressed in the packages during 6 days. However, at temperatures above 158C visual deterioration and development of severe off-odors occurred. The presence of light in the storage environment had no signi®cant effect on spear quality. # 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.