A sensory assessment of color and textural quality of refrigerated tomatoes preserved with different concentrations of potassium permanganate

Freshly harvested mature tomato fruits were treated with different concentrations of potassium permanganate to evaluate their effect on color and texture of the fruits. This was to determine the degree of acceptability and shelf life of the tomatoes. Fifty grams of mature unripe tomato fruits was washed and weighed into a transparent plastic container containing different concentrations of potassium permanganate (control, 2.5 ppm, 5.0 ppm, 7.5 ppm. 10.0 ppm, 12.5 ppm, and 15.0 ppm). The experiment was carried out in a complete randomized design and replicated four times. All the treatments were refrigerated at a temperature range 14-18°C and a sensory assessment of color and textural changes was carried out through a team of selected panelists using the hedonic scale ranking to determine the degree of acceptability. Results obtained were analyzed using analysis of variance DMRT at 5% level of probability and least significant difference (LSD). Results obtained indicated that 7.5 ppm of potassium permanganate had a preservative effect on color and texture of refrigerated tomatoes. Therefore, the tomatoes were of acceptable color and texture for a period of 21 days as revealed in the result. Color quality had a mean score of 1.64 and texture ranking was 1.73 after 3 weeks of storage.