The effect of freezing on leafy vegetables: Reviewed Paper

by Mariyah bt Faizal 2012146395 Siti Nur Ameera binti Azri 2012993629 Siti Nur Izni binti Nor Ali 2012334841

from AS2464A

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Introduction

Temperature is one of the crucial reasons on food preservation. It also being used from the ancient time in order to preserve food and lengthen it shelf life. However, high and low temperature may affect food appearance, taste, color and odor. High temperature in food processing can be up to 121 to -36 degree Celsius. As for high temperature, usual technique being used is drying, smoking, pasteurization and sterilization. Low temperature in process of food preserving is freezing, blast chiller and refrigerating. Since every food have different characteristic it purpose its own preferable temperature. Therefore, we would like to focus on effect of freezing on leafy vegetable. Vegetables are necessary constituents of the human diet that provide important nutritional constituents and also numerous biologically active compounds. Vegetables, especially leafy vegetables are an important source of vitamins, minerals, fibre, and some essential amino acids. Vegetables are also a good source of polyunsaturated fatty acids and it is believed that sufficient consumption of vegetables is a preventive measure against cardiovascular diseases. Fresh produce contains chemical compounds called enzymes which cause the loss of color, loss of nutrients, flavor changes, and color changes in frozen fruits and vegetables. These enzymes must be inactivated to prevent such reactions from taking place. Enzymes in vegetables are inactivated by the blanching process. Blanching is the exposure of the vegetables to boiling water or steam for a brief period of time. The vegetable must then be rapidly cooled in ice water to prevent it from cooking. At freezing conditions, the activities of all enzymes are stopped and therefore production and accumulation of oxalate is prevented. This seems unlikely as the time between freezing and analyzing the fresh samples is not much to allow such a difference. Freezing also by some mechanisms unknown to us appears to facilitate the release of oxalate into the cooking water. However it is known that freezing of tissues at high moisture content results in the formation of ice crystals within the cells. The sharp edges of the crystals so formed are capable of lacerating the cell membranes resulting in cell leakage.

To maintain top quality, frozen fruits and vegetables should be stored at 0F or lower. This temperature is attainable in separate freezer units and in some combination refrigerator-freezers. Storing frozen foods at temperatures higher than 0F increases the rate at which deteriorative reactions can take place and can shorten the shelf life of frozen foods. Fluctuating temperatures in the freezer can cause the migration of water vapor from the product to the surface of the container. This defect is sometimes found in commercially frozen foods which have been improperly handled. Based on several articles and journals that we have read, each of them conducted different experiment procedures based on their objective of studies which contributes to various types of results. Thus, we extracted the contents of the studies to compare the effects of freezing techniques on leafy vegetables towards themselves or towards the food fortified with it. The titles of the journals that we have reviewed are The Effect of Pre-Treatment Temperature And Length Of Frozen Storage On The Retention Of Chlorophyll In Frozen Brassicas, Effect Of Freezing On Some Plant Toxins and Micronutrients in The Leaves of Amaranthus Cruentus, The Influence Of Freezing Conditions On The Organoleptic Attributes Of Iranian Leafy Vegetable Foods, Nitrate-N Determination In Leafy Vegetables: Study Of The Effects Of Cooking And Freezing and Effect of Vegetable Freezing and Preparation of Frozen Products for Consumption on the Content of Lead and Cadmium.

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Contents

Types of vegetables According to Kmiecik et al (2008), the green vegetable used in this experiment was Brassicas. It covered broccoli, green cauliflower and Brussels sprout. These raw materials were harvested in the experimental field of the Agricultural University of Krakow in 2005. The field lies in southern Poland, on the western outskirts of Krakow. Whereas according to Musa and Ogbadoyi (2013), the green vegetable involved was Amaranthus cruentus. Amaranthus cruentus is an important leafy vegetable, grown throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the world. It is herbaceous annual leafy vegetable that can be produced for fresh market in 4-6 weeks after planting. It also has a high nutritional value because of the high contents of vitamins. In the study of the influence of freezing conditions on organoleptic attributes of Iranian leafy vegetable foods by Koushki et al (2013), the leafy vegetables used to mix into preparing Coco-Sabzi (an Iranian meal mainly made of leafy vegetables and eggs) were Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum (leek), Lepidium sativum (garden cress), M. spicata (spearmint), Ocimum basilicum (basil) and Allim porrum (leek). A total of 90 packages of edible grinded leafy vegetable mixtures were selected from stores at three different regions of Tehran using cluster sampling method. Under the study of the effects of cooking and freezing by Prasad and Chetty (2008), fresh leafy vegetables, Chinese cabbage (Brassica chinensis), English cabbage (Brassica oleracea Var. capitata), celery (Apium graveolens L.) and lettuce (Latuca sativa) were collected from the Suva municipal market in Fiji. Each type of vegetable was bought from six different vendors at random. While, Lisiewska et al (2008) studied the effect of vegetable freezing and preparation of frozen products for consumption on the content of lead and cadmium used three different types of leafy vegetables which are kale (Brassica oleracea L. var. acephala), New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia expansa Murr.), and spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.). The vegetables were grown in an experimental field of the department carrying out the

presented study. The field was in good horticultural condition, on the western outskirts of Krakw in southern Poland.

Objective of the experiment Based on Kmiecik et al (2008), the reason of this experiment is to study and compare the effect of two pretreatments before freezing before freezing on the chlorophyll content of frozen broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. In the other hand, Musa and Ogbadoyi (2013), conducted this study to determine the influence of freezing on some plant toxins and micronutrients which include vitamins and mineral elements in Amaranthus cruentus. The purpose of Koushki et al (2013) was to study some organoleptic attributes of a very popular Iranian meal named Coco-Sabzi, which was prepared with a mixture of edible grinded leafy vegetable pre-stored at different frozen conditions. The study by Prasad and Chetty (2008) was conducted to investigate the nitrate-N contents of commonly consumed fresh leafy vegetables which are the Chinese cabbage, English cabbage, celery and lettuce from market in Fiji. Lisiewska et al (2008) wanted to determine the levels of lead and cadmium in fresh vegetables, in vegetables after pre-freezing (blanching or boiling), and in frozen products after a 12-month period of storage at 30C and prepared for consumption (by boiling samples blanched before freezing, and by defrosting and heating in a microwave oven samples boiled before freezing).

Method and materials A sample representing the whole batch of a given cultivars was taken for the analysis of the raw material and the preparation of frozen products. Two different pre-treatment were used in preparing the fresh vegetables for freezing. Using the traditional technology (pre-treatment 1) the fresh vegetables were blanched and, after freezing and frozen storage, the frozen product required traditional water cooking. With the modified

technology (pre-treatment 2) the fresh vegetables were cooked before freezing to an approximately consumption consistency, giving a ready-to-eat products which merely required defrosting and heating in a microwave oven after freezing and frozen storage. (Kmiecik et al 2008). The leaves of Amaranthus cruentus were washed with distilled water and kept in a well labeled polythene bag and stored in a freezer at the temperature of -4oC for a period of four weeks. (Musa and Ogbadoyi 2013) Two preparations were done for the study of the influence of freezing conditions on the organoleptic attributes of Iranian leafy vegetables foods (Koushki et al, 2013) which were sample preparation and Coco-Sabzi preparation. In sample preparation, each package of leafy vegetables mixtures was assigned a four-digit alphanumeric code indicating type of leafy vegetables, freezing temperature, frozen storage period and replication frequency. Prior to the preparation of Coco-Sabzi, the leafy vegetable mixtures were stored at -9oC, -12oC and -18oC for 120 days, 150 days and 180 days. Prasad and Chetty (2008) took sub-samples for the frozen technique. All frozen samples were freeze-dried within 24 hours period. The time taken for each freezedrying process depended on the water content of vegetables. After the process completed, all samples are labeled and stored in acid pre-washed (snap-lock) plastic bags. The deep freezing technique is applied to the sample at the temperature of -20oC where the 16 samples from four different vegetables were kept in the freezer until the day of the analysis. In the study by Lisiewska et al (2008) leafy vegetables were prepared as follows. The main rib was removed from healthy undamaged leaves of kale and the leaf blades were cut in crosswise strips 2-3 cm in width, whole healthy leaves with shoots 15-17 cm in length of New Zealand spinach were used and in the case of common spinach, whole healthy leaves without petioles were frozen. The samples were divided into two variants and variant 1 was subjected to pre-freezing procedures of the traditional blanching at 95-98oC and the time of blanching varied and was boiled to consumption consistency. Variant 2 was prepared by boiling the raw material to consumption consistency to obtain

ready-to-eat products. The materials from blanched and boiled samples were placed on trays and frozen at -40oC in a Feutron 3626-51 blast freezer. The time required for reaching the inside temperature of -30oC was 120 min. The frozen vegetables were then packed in 500 g polyethylene bags of 0.08 mm thickness and stored at -30oC for 12 months.

Statistical analysis Based on Musa and Ogbadoyi (2013), Analysis of varience (ANOVA) was carried out using statistical package Minitab to determine variation between different freezing time on the concentration of nutrients, antinutrients and toxic substances in the leaves of Amaranthus cruentus. The DUNCANs Multiple Range Test (DMRT) was used for comparison of means. Based on Kmiecik et all 2008, the differences in the content of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total chlorophylls at the various stages of evaluation were established using single-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA). Based on Koushki et al (2013), microbial data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SPSS 12.1 statistical software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Data from sensory evaluation were analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis H non-parametric test. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine the statistically significant differences among the means. A 95% (P<0.05) significance level was considered in all comparisons. To determine the nitrate-N content in frozen samples (Prasad and Chetty 2008), the flow injection analysis (FIA) technique is used by applying the two extraction techniques (activated carbon and alkaline extraction). The samples were assessed to extract nitrate-N and the activated carbon extraction was preferred over alkaline extraction and applied. Nitrate contents were determined by FIA coupled with Greiss protocol involving sulfanilamide and N-(1-naphthyl)ethylenediamine dihydrochloride as color reagents. Nitrate was determined in the linear range from 1.0 to 20.0 mg L -1 with the method detection limit of 0.042 mg L-1 (0.34 mh kg-1).

For the study of Lisiewska et al (2008), to determine the amount of lead and cadmium, the material was incinerated in a Nabertherm model L 9/S 27 furnace oven at 460 oC for 8 hours and further mineralization of the material was carried out in a 3:1 mixture of nitric and perchloric acids. The content of lead and cadmium in the solution was determined using an inductively coupled argon plasma emission spectrophotometer JY 238 Ultrace-Jobin Yvon (France).

Results and discussions According to Kmiecik et al 2008, in all 100g of the raw material broccoli contained 15.4mg total chlorophylls while green cauliflower and Brussels sprouts contained 12.4mg and 5.8mg respectively. After blanching the content of both chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b decreased significantly, the loss in total chlorophylls compared with the raw material being 18% for broccoli 23% for green cauliflower and 12% in Brussels sprouts. After cooking, the ratio of chlorophyll a to chlorophyll b was 1:0:49 in broccoli, 1:0:52 in green cauliflower and 10% for Brussel sprouts. According to Musa and Ogbadoyi (2013), the decreasing effect on cyanide, nitrate, soluble and total oxalates, B-carotene, vitamin C and mineral elements (Fe, Cu, Mg, Na and K) concentrations observed in the leaves of Amaranthus cruentus.Based on the results accumulated and analysis done in Koushki et al (2013), the freezing condition does not significantly destroy the microorganisms that may be present in vegetables and the length of storage period (180 days) does not have any effect on organoleptic parameters. It has been shown in the study by Prasad and Chetty (2008) that the nitrate-N content of the four selected vegetables slightly fluctuated from the original over the period of seven days. It was stated that the Chinese cabbage have a nitrate-N content of 2.02%, while celery (8.28%), lettuce (1.42%) and English cabbage (10.94%). On the other hand, Lisiewska et al (2008) found that the level of lead and cadmium in the tested vegetables was not significantly affected. Vegetables of the studied species contained 1-86% and 3-26% of the European admissible levels of lead and cadmium, respectively.

References Kmiecik, W., Lisiewska, Z., Supski, J., & Gbczyski, P. (2008). The effect of pre treatment, temperature and length of frozen storage on the retention of chlorophylls in frozen Brassicas. Acta Sci. Pol. Technol. Aliment, 7(2), 21-34.

Koushki, M. R., Mohammadi, M., Haji Seyed Javadi, N., Komeily, R., Moslemy, M., Seyed Ahmadian, F., & Zali, H. (2013). The influence of freezing conditions on the organoleptic attributes of Iranian leafy vegetable foods. Journal of Paramedical Sciences, 4.

Kyureghian, G., Stratton, J., Bianchini, A., & Albrecht, J. (2010). Nutritional Comparison of Frozen and Non-Frozen Fruits and Vegetables: Literature Review _. The Food Processing Center University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Lisiewska, Z., Gbczyski, P., Kmiecik, W., Skocze-Supska, R. (2008). Effect of Vegetable Freezing and Preparation of Frozen Products for Consumption on the Content of Lead and Cadmium. Polish J. of Environ. Stud. Vol. 16, No. 4, 579-585.

Musa, A., & Ogbadoyi, E. O. (2013). Effect of Freezing on Some Plant Toxins and Micronutrients in the Leaves of Amaranthus Cruentus. Journal of Food Studies, 2(1), 75-92.

Prasad S. and Chetty A. A. (2008). Nitrate-N determination in leafy vegetables: Study of the effects of cooking and freezing. Food Chemistry, 106, pp. 772-780.