SHELF LIFE ENHANCEMENT OF KHOYA BURFI BY GAMMA IRRADIATION TREATMENT
Nikita Sanwal, Abha Sharma and Rajinder K. Gupta*
ABSTRACT
Due to increasing consumer requirements for extended product shelf-life, intelligent packaging of Indian sweets coupled with gamma irradiation, can create a huge international market and can lead to the uprising food processing industry of our country. In this study, we enhanced the shelf life of Khoya Burfi using gamma irradiation of the packaged Burfi by reducing the microbial load. Burfis were packed in polypropylene pouches, gamma irradiated (the doses selected were 0.50 kGy and 1kGy) for a period of 5 mins, and then one sample was stored at room temperature (25±2°C, RH 80±5%) and the other in the refrigerator. The microbial spoilage and appearance of irradiated and un-irradiated control samples were observed at regular interval of 3-5 days for 45 days. The microbial load was reduced considerably in irradiated samples (1 kGy) at room temperature with no bacterial and fungal growth till day 30, while countable colonies were observed after 30 days. On the other hand, too numerous to count (TNTC) colonies were observed in control samples after 5 days. Under refrigerated storage, the shelf life of packed irradiated Burfi increased to 45 days compared to only 10 days for the control Burfi pieces stored under the same conditions. There were no significant differences in sensory parameters and physico-chemical parameters such as moisture content, ash content, titratable acidity, and pH of the irradiated and control Burfi samples. This shows that irradiation does not affect the physico-chemical parameters of Burfi. However, the FFA values increased during storage at room temperature in both control and irradiated samples, but the increase was marginal under refrigeration. Also, the decrease in lactose content was observed during the storage of both the control and the irradiated samples.
Keywords: Irradiation, Shelf life, Khoya, Burfi, Packaging, Polypropylene, Preservation.
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