The weight loss in chillies was observed during storage due to loss in moisture content. The control samples showed 21.2 g/100 g of weight loss followed by microporous (18.4 g/100 g), anti-fog (RD45) (8.5 g/100 g), PE-LD (7.5 g/100 g) and polyolefin (6.8 g/ 100 g) films after 28 days of storage at 8 1 8C. PE-LD films showed condensation in the packets due to low water vapour permeability of the package, leading to saturation of air (dew
point) and super-saturation, leading to condensation, which
further affected the shelf-life of chillies compared to the
chillies packed in other films. A slight condensation was also
observed in polyolefin films (PD961) at 8 1 8C, whereas,
chillies packed in anti-fog (RD45) film maintained the
freshness due to its high WVTR compared to other films.
The increase in weight loss may also be due the effect of transevaporation
and respiration (water and heat production).
Respiration causes a weight reduction because a carbon atom
is lost from the fruit in each cycle (Tano et al., 2008). The low
weight loss at 8 1 8C could also be attributed to the
retardation of physiological processes such as respiration
and transpiration that occur at low temperatures .