K.G Masamba, M. Mkandawire, J.
Abstract
Fruits are good source of essential nutrients which is important for human nutrition. However, in view of their perishability and seasonality, fruits need to be processed in more shelf stable products to ensure their availability throughout the year. The current study was carried out to determine the effect of using sodium metabisulphite and lemon juice as pre-treatments on sensory quality attributes and extent of vitamin C degradation in dried pineapple, mango and banana fruit pieces. The sliced fruit pieces 5-8mm thick were dipped in 1% sodium metabisulphite and lemon juice solutions before being dried in a developed food drier with temperatures ranging from 40-45oC for 10-16 hours. Vitamin C was determined before and after drying and subsequently evaluation of sensory quality attributes in terms of flavour, colour, texture and taste was performed using 10 trained panelists. Results showed that the use of pre-treatments reduced the vitamin C degradation with sodium metabisulphite registering the highest reduction and the control samples the lowest reduction. Furthermore, pre-treatments significantly affected (p<0.05) affected sensory quality attributes in different ways. However, texture was not affected by the use of pre-treatments. Pre-treated fruit samples had better colour than the control samples. It was further found out that control samples had higher scores in taste and flavour with the exception of pineapples, where the pre-treated samples had a higher score than the control samples.