Articles
STORAGE AND DISTRIBUTION OF CARROTS. EFFECT ON QUALITY OF LONG TERM STORAGE IN ICE BANK COOLER AND COLD ROOM, AND OF DIFFERENT PACKING MATERIALS DURING DISTRIBUTION
The main spoilage organisms in these trials have been Botrytis cinerea, Mycocentrospora acerina and Rhizoctonia carotae. The severity of these diseases is markedly affected by the storage conditions.
In the ice bank cooler the rots caused by M. acerina and R. carotae are markedly reduced as compared with cold room storage, but B. cinerea may cause severe damage.
In the cold store where the carrots have been stored in bins covered with polyethylene to avoid drying out, M. acerina and R. carotae caused severe damage, whereas less damage was caused by B. cinerea in this store.
Different packaging materials for consumer packs has been tested.
Perforated bags with many small holes are recommended.
The carrots were after storage and packing subjected to sensoric analysis by a well trained taste panel.
On the whole the effect of the different treatments was found to be small, but carrots from the cold store were more crisp and juicy than the ice bank stored carrots, and the carrots stored in the ice bank store were sweeter than the cold room stored carrots.