Scientists from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), India, have developed notable processing methods to make papaya a high shelf-life super-food. They noted that papaya fruit is highly perishable resulting in around 25 per cent postharvest loss which is further enhanced during storage and transportation. They developed a novel combination technology including osmotic dehydration, blanching and infrared drying to make intermediate moisture (IM) papaya cubes to prevent these losses.
They further hygienised these cubes after packing them and exposing them to a gamma radiation dose of 2 kGy. (Gy, a unit of radiation dose, represents energy absorption of one joule per kg; kGy is 1000 Gy). In their study, they packed the intermediate moisture (IM) papaya cubes (20 pieces; approx. 50 g/packet) in low density polythene packets. Radiation processing helps to reduce the microbial load.
Scientists secured other benefits. They demonstrated that processed IM cubes showed nearly 5-fold increase in calorific value; the per unit dry weight content of carbohydrate, protein, fibre, and functional bioactives such as ascorbic acid, carotenoids, and phenolics including flavonoids were found to increase significantly. Researchers quantitatively demonstrated that the functional properties in terms of antioxidant capacity and antimutagenic potential were improved in the final product.
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Irradiated papaya has high shelf-life
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