Controlled atmosphere pallets to extend the shelf-life of Calanda peaches

Calanda peaches have achieved great prestige in European markets because of their size, firmness and sweetness. However, apart from maintaining current markets by offering a high-quality product, further research is needed to improve their shelf-life in order to reach more distant markets. Thus, the effects of controlled atmosphere (CA) pallets at O2:CO2 concentrations of, 10:10, 5:10 and 2:10%, on the quality and shelf-life of Calanda ‘Calante’ peaches were studied. Physico-chemical parameters, ethanol and acetaldehyde production, decay percentage, chilling injury development and sensory evaluation were determined four times every 2 weeks of cold storage and shelf-life. Also, gas chromatography-olfactometry was conducted to detect off-flavours. Peaches stored at ambient atmosphere at 1°C promptly developed symptoms of chilling injury that became severe on day 28. All the CA conditions delayed ripening and prevented chilling injury with the best sensory results obtained for peaches stored at 2% O2:10% CO2. Although an increase in the production of ethanol and acetaldehyde was detected from day 14 onwards, this did not affect the quality of the fruit that was excellent after 56 days at 1°C plus a shelf-life period of 1 day at 20°C