Rana youness Hamdan*⁽¹⁾, Anton Sammaan Youssef⁽²⁾ and Ahmad Sammour Al-Ibrahim⁽³⁾

(1). Phd student, Department of Food engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Al-Baath University

(2). Professor, Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Al-Baath University.

(3). Assistant Professor, Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Al-Baath University.

(Corresponding Author: Rana Hamdan, email: ranahamdan999@gmail.com, mob.: 0934591083)

Received:   17/2/2025         Accepted:  23/4/2025

Abstract

The effect of using ultraviolet rays to sterilize Lemon fruits, are studied in this research, and packaging them in aseptic conditions and storing them refrigerated, on the percentage of microbiological spoilage of the fruits and on the change in their chemical composition. For sterilization, ultraviolet rays were used in different times (1,5,10,15 min). For aseptic packaging, a locally manufactured device was used to carry out this work, and polyethylene bags were used to pack the fruits simultaneously with sterilization it. The results showed that using ultraviolet rays (power 30 W, wavelength 254 nm, for 10 min) gave positive results in terms of the possibility of using it according to this method for 6-month storage of Lemon. The fruits maintained good physical and chemical properties, with relatively minor changes in total sugars and acids, vitamin C, water content, and ethyl alcohol after 6 months of refrigerated storage. The fruits maintained their texture, as the texture value of the treated fruits reached 2.30 kg/cm², the color change (Chroma) was 46.79, the physiological spoilage rate was 1.5%, and the microbiological spoilage (fungi and yeasts) was 2%.

Key words: Lemon, Aseptic Ambience, Polyethelyne, Ultraviolet Radiation.
 Full paper in Arabic: PDF