Supercooling storage inhibits the browning and quality degradation of fresh-cut potatoes

Abstract

This research investigated how supercooling (SC) can inhibit browning and prevent quality degradation in fresh-cut potatoes by analyzing surface color, texture, phenolic metabolism, membrane stability, antioxidant activity, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) equilibrium. Consequently, during SC storage at −2 °C, the browning index (BI) of 197.24 in the SC group was 5.65 times lower compared to the control group, and the hardness loss rate was 20.24% lower than that of the control group. At the same time, the microbial colony counts were reduced. Supercooling reduced the extent of membrane lipid peroxidation in potatoes, leading to significantly lower levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), and lipoxygenase (LOX) activity compared to the control group. Moreover, the activities of browning-related enzymes, peroxidase (PPO), and polyphenol oxidase (POD), were reduced by 21.9% and 7.6%, respectively, compared to the control group. The inhibition of total phenolics (TP), and total flavonoids (TF) decreased the substrates and enzymes associated with browning, collectively mitigating the browning of fresh-cut potatoes. Furthermore, the antioxidant capacity of fresh-cut potatoes was better preserved during SC storage, with lower hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), and superoxide anion (·O₂⁻) levels than the control group, suppressing reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation. Overall, SC significantly inhibited browning, and delayed quality decline in fresh-cut potatoes.

Keywords

Preservation technique / Fresh-cut / Supercooling / Browning index / Antioxidant ability / Microbial population.

Author contributions

The authors confirm their contributions to the paper as follows: conceptualization: Miao Z, Li W; methodology: Miao Z, Wang H; data curation: Miao Z, Yang M; investigation: Miao Z; formal analysis: Miao Z; writing original draft: Miao Z, Liang F; Data analysis: Liang F, Du J, Jiang Y; visualization: Liang F, Wang H; validation: Li X; project administration: Li X, Jiang Y; supervision, funding acquisition: Li X; writing, review and editing: Li W. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Data availability

Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Tianjin University of Science and Technology Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Innovation Fund Project (YB2023008), the Key Research & Development Program of Shandong Province (2021CXGC010809), and the Key Science and Technology Planning Program of Tianjin (22ZYJDSS00090).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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