Maintaining the freshness of vegetables and fruits even for a short period in a tropical environment is difficult. Fresh fruits and vegetables usually deteriorate faster than other products because they increase in respiration while in storage, due to high moisture content and high tropical heat which lead to a number of physical and physiological changes affecting the viability, quality and marketability of the produce. The use of evaporative cooling system showed improvement in the shelf life of fruits and vegetables stored. The stored vegetables in the cooler showed higher moisture and vitamin C content while the withered control has higher ash, protein, fibre and carbohydrate content. However, the fruits stored in the cooler had lower vitamin C and higher moisture than the control which showed good quality and crispiness while the control deteriorated at the same period. The results suggest that the integration of evaporative cooling system with good sanitation along the marketing channel from the harvest point until the consumption point will help to attain high quality level of freshness for some period.
environmental friendly; refrigeration; freshness; cold storage; food quality
Anyanwu E.E. (2004): Design and measured performance of a porous evaporative cooler for preservation of fruits and vegetables, Energy Conversion and Management, 45: 2187–2195.
Ditchfield C., Tadini C.C., Singh R.K., Toledo R.T. (2006): Velocity and temperature profiles, heat transfer coefficients and residence time distribution of a temperature dependent Herschel–Bulkley fluid in a tubular heat exchanger. Journal of Food Engineering, 76, 632-638
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2005.06.015
FAO (1983): FAO Production Yearbook, 34. Rome, FAO.
Irtwange S.V. (2006): Keeping freshness in fresh-cut horticultural produce. Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Ejournal, 8.
Jain Dilip (2007): Development and testing of two-stage evaporative cooler. Building and Environment, 42, 2549-2554
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2006.07.034
Ndukwu M.C. (2011): Development of clay evaporative cooler for fruits and vegetables preservation. Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Journal, 13: 1–8.
Shewfel T.R. (1994): Quality characteristics of fruits and vegetables. In: Singh R.P., Oliveira, F.A.R. (eds): Minimal Processing of Foods and Process Optimization. An Iterface. Boca Raton, CRC Press.
Otterbein R. (1996): Installing and Maintaining Evaporative Coolers. HomeEnergy Magazine. Available at www.homeenergy.org/archive/hem.dis.anl.gov/eehem/96/960511.htm
Watt J.R. (1963): Evaporative Air Conditioning. NewYork, The Industrial Press.
Wei Z., Geng S. (2009): Experimental research on direct evaporative cooling of organic padding contamination. Control and Air-conditioning Technology, 1: 22–26.
Xuan Y.M., Xiao F., Niu X.F., Huang X., Wang S.W. (2012): Research and application of evaporative cooling in China: A review (I) – Research. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16, 3535-3546
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2012.01.052
