When kimchi is frozen and thawed, the amount of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeast is usually reduced by more than 2 logs, and its texture including its crispness and hardness are changed significantly. As a possible means to minimize these problems, various freezing (direct freezer with -25, -40, and -60oC and plate freezer with -40oC) and thawing methods (radio frequency (RF) thawing, plate thawing, and room temperature thawing) were investigated in terms of the amount of LAB and texture of kimchi. From the use of plate freezing and plate thawing, the amount of LAB of white cabbage kimchi could be maintained by more than 10% of its initial amount while that for red cabbage kimchi could be maintained by more than the initial amount. Pretreatment with trehalose (19 oBrix soluble solid content) to salted Chinese cabbage could maintain kimchi’s hardness and crispness. In order to maintain the texture and the amount of LAB in kimchi, the use of the plate freezer (-40oC) and the plate thawing (20oC) seemed to be effective with the assistance of trehalose.

This study was conducted to investigate the quality of kimchi cabbages stored under a pallet unit-controlled atmosphere (PUCA), containing 2% O2 and 5% CO2, and to develop quality prediction models for cabbages stored under such conditions. Summer and winter cabbage samples were divided into PUCA-exposed groups and atmospheric airexposed control groups (in a cold storage). The control summer cabbages lost up to 8.31% of their weight, whereas the PUCA-exposed summer cabbages lost only 1.23% of their weight. Additionally, PUCA storage effectively delayed the reduction in cabbage moisture content compared with the control storage. After storage for 60 and 120 days of the summer and winter samples, respectively, the reducing sugar contents were higher in the PUCA groups than in the control groups. The linear regression analysis-derived equations for predicting the storage period, weight loss, and moisture content in the control groups, as well as those for predicting the storage period and weight loss in the PUCA groups, were appropriate according to the adjusted coefficient of determination, root mean square error, accuracy factor, and bias factor values. Therefore, this PUCA system would be useful for improving the shelf life of the postharvest summer and winter cabbages used in the commercial kimchi industry.

In this study, a controlled atmosphere (CA) storage system is proposed as a storage method for prolonging processing period. Persimmon was placed in CA storage at 0.5oC±0.5 for 92 d. The qualities of the stored persimmons were compared to determine the possibility of extending shelf life. ‘Sangjudungsi,’ which was harvested on October 26, 2017, was applied to the persimmons. In order to compare differences according to size, the persimmons were classified into Size No. 2 (170 g) and Size No. 3 (145 g). In the result, the yellowness of CA-stored persimmons was 26.3% lower than that of cold-stored ones, confirming that after-ripening was delayed. The firmness of CAstored and Size No. 3 persimmon was higher than that of cold-stored and Size No. 2 persimmon. Tannin decreased significantly in cold storage, but it tended to increase in CA storage. The sugar content of Size No. 3 was lower than that of Size No. 2, but there was no difference in tendencies according to the storage method. Weight loss in CA storage was lower than that in cold storage. A comparison of color difference, firmness, sugar content, tannin, and weight loss ratio showed that CA storage was more effective in improving shelf life than cold storage.

Commercial direct refrigerators have good energy efficiency, but are difficult to use for supercooled storage due to their large temperature deviation. Placing insulators and conductors inside the refrigerator could reduce these temperature deviations to within 0.3 degrees, allowing for the supercooled storage. The supercooled storage of salted Chinese cabbages during ten weeks was progressed to compare the other low temperature storages. The nucleation temperatures of salted Chinese cabbage were around -2.5oC and the freezing points were around -0.4oC, so -2oC was selected for the supercooled storage. The growth rate of lactic acid bacteria and yeast at -2oC storage was lower than that at 2oC storage. The reducing sugar was maintained higher due to the growth rate of lactic acid bacteria. The supercooled storage had an effect of delaying the fermentation of the salted Chinese cabbage, which may have the effect of delaying the fermentation of kimchi. This enhancement method of the direct refrigerator was effective for the supercooled storage and would be promising for commercial use.

For the vessel export of strawberries, modified atmosphere package (MAP) using polyamide (PA) film and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) film was investigated to extend the shelf life of strawberries. Because the temperature and relative humidity changes of the MAP were lower than the changes of the control, the weight loss of the MAP were lower than that of the control. The low oxygen level and high carbon dioxide level were effective to decrease the fungal decay rate and to increase the hardness of strawberries. The Hunter’s color differences before and after storage showed no distinct difference between the MAP and the control. The lightness had a tendency to decrease while the redness increased. There were no significant changes of the soluble solids during the storage. The shelf life of strawberries could be extended to 16 days using the MAP considering the weight loss and the fungal decay rate. Thus, this MAP method using PA film and LLDPE film was effective to extend the shelf life of strawberries.

The main purposes of this study were to identify the factors affecting the supercooling property and to improve the possibility of supercooling storage of fruits and vegetables. Freezing point and nucleation temperature, moisture content, hardness, sugar content, and pH of nineteen fruits and vegetables were measured and Pearson correlation analysis was performed. Freezing point showed a statistically significant correlation with moisture content and sugar content (p<0.01), while ice nucleation temperature showed a correlation (p<0.05) only for sugar content. In particular, the water content and sugar content did not show any correlation with the freezing supercooling difference (FSD). From the correlation analysis between FSD, aerobic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and mold, FSD showed a correlation (p<0.01) with aerobic bacteria. The experiments of the saline solutions inoculated with aerobic bacteria at different concentrations showed FSDs of about 2 for saline inoculated with 9.4 log CFU/mL and about 6 for saline inoculated lower than 5 log CFU/mL. Therefore, the aerobic bacteria concentration was determined to be a key factor affecting the supercooling storage of fruits and vegetables.

The O2 and CO2 concentrations in controlled atmosphere (CA) rooms are determined by the respiration of produce like apples and the airtightness of the CA room, with gas in the CA room controlled by O2 and CO2 removal as well as respiration (CO2 increase and O2 decrease). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of the gas exchange model for O2 removal, CO2 removal, the rate of O2 decrease and CO2 increase by respiration of apples, and airtightness of the CA room. It took 17.5 hours to reduce O2 concentration from 20.9% to 2.0% after loading 4.3 tons of Fuji apples into the CA room, which was 4.2 hours longer than the 13.3 hours of the model formula. After the CO2 concentration rose to 0.5% due to respiration, it took 4.7 hours to lower the CO2 concentration to 0.2%, which was 0.6 hours longer than that of the model equation. The rate of CO2 increase by respiration was 0.021%/ h, which was similar to the model equation (0.017%/h). Also after 4.7 hours, the O2 concentration decreased by 0.1% which was also in line with the model equation (0.13%/h).

The variations of internal temperature, relative humidity (RH) and gas concentration in the pallet modified atmosphere package (MAP), using polyamide (PA) film and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) film, were investigated to extend the shelf life of tomatoes and paprikas. The temperature and RH inside the MAP were higher than that in the cold room, but there was no water condensation inside the MA film. The ethylene concentration in the MAP was maintained below 10 ppm. Oxygen level was stabilized at 2 to 5% during the storage and carbon dioxide level was also stabilized at 15 to 20%. The weight loss of the MAP tomatoes and paprikas was lower than that of the control because the RH in the pallet MAP was higher than that of the cold room. The fungal decay rate in the pallet MAP was also lower than that in the control due to a low oxygen concentration rate. There were no significant differences in the soluble solids, titratable acidity and Hunter’s color, but differences did exist in the hardness between the MAP and the control. So, this pallet MAP method was effective at extending the shelf life of tomatoes and paprikas considering the weight loss, fungal decay and hardness.