Minimal processing of vegetables involves the elimination of non-edible parts followed by cutting into smaller pieces, so that the product obtained is ready-to-eat and fresh-like. The demand for minimally processed vegetables by consumers and by food service industry has increased. Carrot is among the most popular vegetables marketed this way, that is shredded, cut as slices or cubes and as baby-carrot. Minimal processing operations induce stress and undesirable metabolic changes that reduce the product shelf life in relation to the intact organs from which they were obtained. These metabolic changes include increase in respiration and transpiration rate, pathological breakdown, synthesis of secondary compounds and membrane lipid breakdown. The effect of many factors as cultivars, cutting direction, chemical treatments, edible coatings, irradiation, modified atmosphere and refrigeration, upon the severity of metabolic changes induced by processing are presented.
Daucus carota; metabolic changes; processing; respiration; ethylene; modified atmosphere; fresh-cut