The effect of minimal processing on the health-related attributes of orange fruit was investigated.
Oranges were prepared as whole fruits, hand-peeled fruits and manually separated segments, packed
under air atmosphere and stored at 4 °C for 12 days. The stability of main bioactive compounds (carotenoids,
flavanones and vitamin C) and antioxidant activity was evaluated. The total carotenoid content
showed a significant increase for the whole samples during refrigerated storage, whereas no significant
changes were observed for segments or peeled samples. A similar trend was found for vitamin A. With
regard to vitamin C, at the end of refrigerated storage, some losses were observed although no significant
differences were found among the different processed samples. The flavanone content showed a significant
increase throughout refrigerated storage as response to cold stress. In general, the antioxidant activity
remained stable in relation to the initial values. Hence, the health-related characteristics of minimally
processed oranges were retained during refrigerated storage.