The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 0.5% citric acid (CA), UV-C alone, and their combination
(CA + UV) on native microflora survival, phenolic composition, browning,
firmness and weight loss of
fresh-cut ‘Fuji’ apples during refrigerated storage. Results showed that CA, UV alone and UV + CA had no
significant effect on the
firmness and total phenolic content but increased the polyphenol oxidase activity
of fresh-cut apples. CA alone aggravated the browning and increased the weight loss of fresh-cut apples,
while UV or UV + CA treatment significantly decreased the occurrence of browning reactions and reduced
the weight loss as compared to control. The bacterial count of fresh-cut apples were reduced by 1.5,
2.1 and 2.6 log CFU/g after treatment with CA, UV and CA + UV, respectively. All these treatment retarded
the microbial growth during storage and CA + UV treatment maintained the lowest growth rate among all
treatment samples. Furthermore, the content of chlorogenic acid, () epicatechin, (+) catechin and caffeic
acid in CA + UV treated sample was higher than the control after 15 d storage. Overall, these results
suggest that CA + UV might be applied as an effective and safe preservative for fresh-cut apples