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

(1). Phd student, Chargé d’affaires, Department of food engineering, faculty of chimecal and petroleum engineering, Al-Baath university

(2). Professor, Department of food engineering, faculty of chimecal and petroleum engineering, Al-Baath university.

(3). Assistant Professor, Department of food engineering, faculty of chimecal and petroleum engineering, Al-Baath university.

(*Corresponding author: R. Hamdan: basimaal508@gmail.com, tel: 0934591083).

Received: 30/9/2024                       Accepted: 19/1/2025

Abstract: 

The effect of using some lemon sterilization solutions, are studied in this research, 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, hot water was used at temperatures (40,50,60 °C), sodium bicarbonate at concentrations (1,2,3 %) at temperatures (20,55,60 °C) and hydrogen peroxide was used at concentrations (0.5,1,2 %). 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 hot water did not give the desired result as it affected the strength of the fruits (their texture), while using sodium bicarbonate at a concentration of 3% and at a temperature of 55 ºC gave positive results in terms of the possibility of using it for long-term storage of lemons. When using hydrogen peroxide at a concentration of 1%, the fruits maintained their microbiological safety for a long period exceeding seven months while maintaining good physical and chemical properties. The experiments showed that the best treatment for lemon fruits was using immersion in hydrogen peroxide (concentration 1% for 2 min), where the physiological damage rate was 3% and no fungal growth appeared on the stored lemon fruits.

Key words: Lemon, Aseptic Ambience, polyethelyne, hydrogen peroxide, sodium bicarbonate.

 Full paper in Arabic: PDF