The water activity of control sample (fresh fruit) was found
to be 0.996 which is higher than treated sample. Water activity
of treated sample reduced due to osmotic dehydration of
papaya at different sucrose concentration. It can be concluded
that the value of water activity (aw) decreases with increase
in sugar concentration. Since the sucrose hydrolysis reduced
the water activity aw more than the desired,which was an additional
safety factor for the preservation of minimally processed
papaya. Reducing the water activity of samples also
decreases the non-enzymatic browning reaction (Krokida et
al., 2000). But during storage there is slight increase in the
value of water activity.