LWT - Food Science and Technology 111 (2019) 436–442

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LWT - Food Science and Technology

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Effect of storage in pallet-unit controlled atmosphere on the quality of T

Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. spp. pekinensis) used in kimchi
manufacturing
Ji-Hoon Kanga, Hyuk-Je Wooa, Jun-Beom Parka, Ho Hyun Chunb, Chun Wan Parkc,
Kyung Bin Songa,∗
a
Department of Food Science and Technology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, 34134, Republic of Korea
b
Research and Development Division, World Institute of Kimchi, Gwangju, 61755, Republic of Korea
c
Department of Agricultural Engineering, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, RDA, Jeonju, 54875, Republic of Korea

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In this study, the effects of storage in pallet-unit controlled atmosphere (CA) at different gas compositions
Chinese cabbage (control: atmospheric air, CA1: 0.5% O2 and 2% CO2, CA2: 2% O2 and 2% CO2) on the quality of Chinese
Kimchi manufacturing cabbages during 100 days of storage at 2 °C were examined. Rapid weight loss up to 30% was observed in the
Marketable quality Chinese cabbages during storage for the control group, and there was severe color change, such as browning
Pallet-unit controlled atmosphere storage
inside the cabbages for the CA1 storage group. In contrast, CA2 storage effectively maintained the marketable
Shelf life
quality of the cabbages during long-term storage. The levels of vitamin C, total phenolics, and total glucosi-
nolates were the highest in the CA2 storage group among the samples. In addition, the growth of total aerobic
bacteria on the Chinese cabbages during 100 days of storage was more inhibited for the CA2 storage group,
compared to other storage conditions. Therefore, these results indicated that CA2 storage condition (2% O2, 2%
CO2) applied in this study might be suitable for maintaining the quality and extending the shelf life of Chinese
cabbages used in kimchi manufacturing.

1. Introduction
Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. spp. pekinensis), which contains
high amount of bioactive compounds, such as glucosinolates, is one of
the important vegetables in Asian countries, such as Korea, China, and
Japan (Haque, Lee, & Cho, 2015; Yang et al., 2018). Especially, Chinese
cabbage is used as a major raw material in the manufacturing of kimchi,
which is a typical Korean traditional food, and it is consumed world-
wide because of its health benefits, such as anticancer, antiobesity, and
antioxidative effects (Hong, Kim, & Kim, 2011; Kim et al., 2014, 2018).
Thus, maintaining the quality of Chinese cabbage is very important for
producing high quality kimchi. Furthermore, being listed on the CODEX
in 2001, kimchi prepared from Chinese cabbage has been regarded as a
standard type of kimchi among 200 types of kimchi produced in Korea
(Park, Ha, Kim, & Ha, 2017). Based on these facts, almost 2 million tons
of Chinese cabbage is cultivated and harvested in Korea yearly (Cho,
Lee, Bang, Kim, & Kim, 2017; Jeon, Oh, Kim, Kim, & Chae, 2018).
However, there are many problems related to storage and marketing of
Chinese cabbage because most of the crops are cultivated in the open
field and its production is unstable and susceptible to climate change
(Lee, Lee, Kim, & Kim, 2018). Therefore, a long-term storage method is
needed to overcome these problems.
In order to extend the shelf life of vegetables, including Chinese
cabbage, preservation methods altering atmosphere composition (low
concentration of O2 and high concentration of CO2), such as controlled
atmosphere (CA) storage and modified atmosphere (MA) packaging,
have been studied (Adamicki & Gajewski, 1999; Menniti, Maccaferri, &
Folchi, 1997; Osher et al., 2018; Sandhya, 2010). After harvest, cab-
bages are vulnerable to spoilage by fungal infection, weight loss, and
color degradation (yellowing) due to aerobic respiration. Thus, the shelf
life of cabbages could be low under normal atmospheric condition
(Osher et al., 2018). It has been recently reported that CA storage can
reduce the respiration rate and it can increase the shelf life of cabbages
(Osher et al., 2018).
In general, the optimal gas composition for fresh produce, including
Chinese cabbage, is 1–5% O2 and 2–10% CO2 (Sandhya, 2010). In
particular, the recommended storage condition for cabbages has been
reported to be 1.5–3% O2 and 2–6% CO2 (Adamicki & Gajewski, 1999;

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: kbsong@cnu.ac.kr (K.B. Song).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2019.05.069
Received 15 February 2019; Received in revised form 13 May 2019; Accepted 14 May 2019
Available online 15 May 2019
0023-6438/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J.-H. Kang, et al.
Daly & Tomkins, 1995, pp. 32–33; Hermansen & Hoftun, 2005; Menniti
et al., 1997; Osher et al., 2018). To date, however, studies on the CA
storage for cabbages have been mainly applied on cabbage (Brassica
oleracea), not Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L.). In particular, more
studies are needed to study the storage condition that is applicable to
the Chinese cabbage for producing high quality kimchi. Furthermore, it
should be noted that some problems, such as off odor and flavor, may
arise under the storage condition involving more than 6% CO2 or less
than 1.5% O2 (Menniti et al., 1997). In addition, studies on CA storage
for cabbages have mainly focused on the analysis of pathological dis-
order, especially pepper spot (black spot) by fungal infection, which is
an important factor determining the quality of the cabbages
(Hermansen & Hoftun, 2005; Menniti et al., 1997). Thus, it is necessary
to study the changes in the physiological quality of Chinese cabbage,
such as the content of important bioactive compounds under CA storage
to examine the marketability of the cabbage. It has been also reported
that controlling atmospheric composition for the storage of fresh pro-
duce can delay aerobic microbial spoilage because of increased CO2
concentration (Oliveira et al., 2015; Putnik et al., 2017). However,
studies on the establishment of CA storage condition for Chinese cab-
bage considering all these factors have not been conducted yet.
Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of
CA storage with different atmospheric compositions (CA1: 0.5% O2 and
2% CO2, CA2: 2% O2 and 2% CO2) based on the previous studies
(Adamicki & Gajewski, 1999; Daly & Tomkins, 1995, pp. 32–33;
Hermansen & Hoftun, 2005) on the qualities, such as weight loss, color
change, and bioactive compounds (vitamin C, total phenolics, and total
glucosinates) content as well as the growth of total aerobic bacteria on
Chinese cabbage during 100 days of storage at 2 °C. The results ob-
tained from this study could provide useful information regarding the
marketable quality of Chinese cabbage used as a raw material in the
kimchi industry.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Samples and storage condition
Chinese cabbages (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis), which were
harvested in Haenam, Korea in May 2018, were used in this study.
Cabbage samples with uniform weight (approximately 3.0 kg) were
selected and five cabbages were put in a high density polyethylene
(HDPE) box (52 cm × 37 cm × 32 cm) for individual treatment. Five
HDPE boxes containing the samples were stacked on a pallet and
packaged tightly with HDPE film. Two units of pallet were used for CA
storage with different atmospheric compositions (CA1: 0.5% O2 and 2%
CO2, CA2: 2% O2 and 2% CO2) and 1 unit of pallet was used as a control
(atmospheric air: 21% O2 and 0% CO2) (Table 1). All units of pallet
were kept in a cold chamber, which is installed at World Institute of
Kimchi (Gwangju, Korea), at 2 °C and 95% of relative humidity (RH) for
100 days. To monitor and control the gas composition of each CA
storage, a gas-control instrument designed by Korea National Institute
of Agricultural Sciences (Jeonju, Korea) was used. This instrument
consists of nitrogen generator (Membrane (polysulfone)-type, Airrane
Inc., Cheongju, Korea), gas controller (DDC-478, Systronics Co., Bu-
cheon, Korea), and sensor (SH-VT-250-O2, Sohatech Co., Seoul, Korea)
to monitor temperature, RH, and gas (O2 and CO2) content. The gas
composition in each pallet-unit was monitored automatically by this
Table 1
The storage condition for Chinese cabbages.
Air composition Control CA1 CA2
O2 (%) 21 0.5 2
CO2 (%) 0 (0.04) 2 2
N2 (%) 79 97.5 96
437
LWT - Food Science and Technology 111 (2019) 436–442
instrument every 5 s during 100 days of storage, and the gas con-
centration was also kept constant during the storage period. Storage
temperature (2 °C) was selected based on the fact that 2 °C can more
effectively prevent chilling injury, such as the occurrence of patchy
papery necrosis (PPN) and severe weight and trimming loss of Chinese
cabbage, compared to 0 °C (Porter, Klieber, & Collins, 2003).
2.2. Preparation of samples
For the preparation of samples, the outer layer leaves of the samples
stored under different atmosphere conditions were trimmed before the
experiment. In addition, the surface of inner leaves close to heart leaves
of Chinese cabbages, where color change occurs, was used to determine
the color of Chinese cabbages (Menniti et al., 1997). The contents of
bioactive compounds, such as vitamin C, total phenolics, and total
glucosinolates in the Chinese cabbages were also determined with the
same part of the samples used for color determination.
2.3. Measurement of weight loss
The weight loss of the samples stored under different atmosphere
conditions (control, CA1, and CA2) was determined by calculating the
difference between the initial weight and the weight at 20 day-intervals
during 100 days of storage. The weight loss was represented as a re-
lative percentage (%).
2.4. Determination of vitamin C content
Each freeze-dried sample (0.5 g) was mixed with 25 mL of meta-
phosphoric acid (5%, pH 4.0) and extracted in a shaking incubator at
25 °C for 18 h. The mixture was put in a refrigerator at 4 °C for 30 min,
and then, the supernatant was collected. The obtained supernatant
(2 mL) was reacted with 50 μL 2, 6-dichlorophenol-indophenol to
change the pink color, and bleached with 2 mL of 2% thiourea in meta-
phosphoric acid. The solution of 2, 4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (2 mL)
was then added to the bleached mixture, and incubated at 37 °C for 2 h.
The absorbance of the reactant was measured in triplicate using a
spectrophotometer (UV2450, Shimadzu Co., Kyoto, Japan) at 520 nm.
Ascorbic acid was used as a standard and the results were expressed as
mg ascorbic acid equivalent (AAE)/100 g dry weight of sample.
2.5. Determination of total phenolics content
The total phenolics content (TPC) in the Chinese cabbages was de-
termined during storage according to the method described by
Rumbaoa, Cornago, and Geronimo (2009) with some modifications.
Freeze-dried sample (0.5 g) was mixed with 50 mL of methanol and
extracted in a shaking incubator (200 rpm) at 25 °C for 24 h. The ex-
tracted solution (100 μL) was mixed with distilled water (D.W., 2.5 mL),
2 N Folin-Ciocalteu's phenol reagent (100 μL), and 20% sodium carbo-
nate (300 μL), and incubated at 20 °C for 30 min. After the reaction, the
absorbance of the reactant was measured at 765 nm with a spectro-
photometer. Gallic acid with various concentrations ranging from
0.00125% to 0.02% was used as a standard, and the results were ex-
pressed as mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100 g dry weight of sample.
2.6. Determination of total glucosinolates content
The total glucosinolates content (TGC) in the Chinese cabbages was
determined according to the method described by Mawlong, Sujith
Kumar, Gurung, Singh, and Singh (2017) and Jafary-Jahed et al. (2019)
with minor modifications. Freeze-dried sample (0.1 g) was mixed with
1.5 mL of 70% methanol and extracted in a shaking incubator at 25 °C
for 24 h. The mixture was then centrifuged at 3000×g for 8 min and the
obtained supernatant was incubated with 300 μL D.W. and 3 mL 2 mM
sodium tetrachloropalladate for 1 h. The absorbance of the reactant was
J.-H. Kang, et al.
measured at 425 nm using a spectrophotometer, and TGC was calcu-
lated based on the calibration curve using sinigrin as a standard (Jafary-
Jahed et al., 2019)
2.7. Color measurement
The inner leaves’ color of the Chinese cabbages was measured with
a chromameter (CR-400, Konica Minolta Sensing Inc., Japan), and hue
angle (°) was calculated by the equation described below based on the
CIE color values (L∗, a∗, and b∗). The L∗, a∗, and b∗ values of a standard
white plate were 98.86, −0.28, and 4.06, respectively. CIE color values
of each sample were measured independently with at least five re-
plications. In addition, to visually observe the color change in the
Chinese cabbages, photos of the cross-section of each sample were
taken during 100 days of storage.
Hue angle (°): 1. a∗, b∗ > 0 = tan−1(b∗/a*); 2. a∗ < 0,
b∗ > 0 = tan−1(b∗/a∗) +180
2.8. Microbial analysis
Chinese cabbages stored under different storage conditions were
ground with a mixer for 10 min, and 10 g of each sample was placed in
a sterile stomacher bag with 90 mL of sterile peptone water (SPW).
Mixed samples were homogenized using a MIX 2 homogenizer (AES
Laboratoire, Combourg, France) for 3 min. One milliliter of homo-
genized mixture was 10-fold diluted serially with 9 mL of SPW. Each
diluted aliquot (100 μL) was spread-plated onto plate count agar (Difco
Co ., Detroit, MI, USA) and incubated at 37 °C for 24 h for enumeration
of total aerobic bacteria (TAB). All microbial analysis was performed at
least three times independently, and log colony forming units (CFU)/g
was used as a unit for microbial count.
2.9. Statistical analysis
The SAS program (version 9.4, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA)
was used to perform the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan's
multiple range tests with a statistical significance at P < 0.05. All ex-
periments were carried out at least three times and the obtained data
were presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Changes in the weight loss of Chinese cabbages stored under different
atmospheric conditions during long-term storage
Fig. 1 shows the changes in the weight loss of Chinese cabbages
stored under atmospheric air and CA storage with different air com-
positions (CA1: 0.5% O2 and 2% CO2, CA2: 2% O2 and 2% CO2) during
100 days of storage. Rapid weight loss was observed for the samples
stored under atmospheric air condition (control), showing up to more
than 30% of weight loss at the end of storage. In contrast, the weight
loss of the samples stored under CA storage was retained below 5%
until the end of storage, regardless of atmospheric composition (Fig. 1).
Similar to our results, it has been previously reported that CA storage
can reduce the weight loss of various vegetables compared to normal air
storage (Hodges, Munro, Forney, & McRae, 2006; Osher et al., 2018).
Leafy vegetables, such as Chinese cabbage, contain more than 90% of
water, and they have high surface to volume ratio (Kasim & Kasim,
2012; Zhan et al., 2013). Thus, many leafy vegetables are susceptible to
rapid loss of water after harvest. In particular, it is well known that
most of weight loss in the leafy vegetables is due to rapid water loss
(Kasim & Kasim, 2012; Porter et al., 2003). In addition, maintenance of
aerobic respiration of these vegetables after harvest can cause the loss
of dry matter through carbohydrate metabolism (Zhan, Li, Hu, Pang, &
438
LWT - Food Science and Technology 111 (2019) 436–442
Fig. 1. Changes in the weight loss of Chinese cabbages during long-term storage
under 3 different atmosphere conditions. Vertical bars represent the standard
deviations (n = 3). Control, ● CA1, ○; CA2, ▼. a-bAny means at the same
treatment time followed by different letters are significantly different
(P < 0.05) by Duncan's multiple range tests.
Fan, 2012). CA storage with low level of O2 and high level of CO2 has
been mainly applied to reduce the respiration rate in the harvested
vegetables because decreasing respiration rate can prevent color change
by reducing chlorophyll degradation, oxidative tissue damage, and
substrate depletion (Hodges et al., 2006; Osher et al., 2018; Sandhya,
2010).
The weight loss caused by water loss results in the loss of market-
ability of vegetables, including Chinese cabbage, in terms of freshness
and texture. In general, the water loss of 5–10% in the harvested ve-
getables is regarded as un-marketable (Kasim & Kasim, 2012). In the
present study, only less than 5% of weight loss in the Chinese cabbages
stored under CA storage was observed after 100 days of storage (Fig. 1),
indicating that CA storage condition established in this study can re-
duce the weight loss, compared to the control group stored under at-
mospheric air condition.
3.2. Changes in the bioactive compound contents in the Chinese cabbages
stored under different atmospheric conditions during long-term storage
Changes in the contents of various bioactive compounds, such as
vitamin C, total phenolics, and total glucosinolates in the Chinese
cabbages stored under atmospheric air condition and two different CA
storage conditions were compared during long-term storage (Figs. 2–4).
The initial contents of vitamin C, total phenolics, and total glucosino-
lates were approximately 9.3 mg AAE/100 g, 350 mg GAE/100 g, and
19.3 μmol/g, respectively. These contents are very similar to results of
previous studies (Hwang, Jang, & Kim, 2012; Lee et al., 2015; Seong,
Hwang, & Chung, 2016). However, the contents of the bioactive com-
pounds in the fresh Chinese cabbages gradually reduced during storage
regardless of storage condition (Figs. 2–4). Although the contents of the
bioactive compounds in the Chinese cabbages showed decreasing ten-
dency, higher contents were observed for the samples stored under CA
storage, especially CA2 condition, compared to atmospheric air condi-
tion.
Because of persistence of aerobic respiration after harvest, carbo-
hydrate content decreased in many vegetables, including Chinese cab-
bage (Zhan et al., 2012). In addition, it was reported that vitamin C in
Chinese cabbage was easily oxidized and that vitamin C content rapidly
decreased during storage under even MA condition (Yang et al., 2018).
Zhu et al. (2018) also reported the similar results, where there was a
decrease in vitamin C content in three different leafy cabbages during
J.-H. Kang, et al.
Fig. 2. Changes in the vitamin C content of Chinese cabbages during long-term
storage under 3 different atmosphere conditions. Vertical bars represent the
standard deviations (n = 3). Control, ● CA1, ○; CA2, ▼. a-cAny means at the
same treatment time followed by different letters are significantly different
(P < 0.05) by Duncan's multiple range tests.
Fig. 3. Changes in the total phenolic contents of Chinese cabbages during long-
term storage under 3 different atmosphere conditions. Vertical bars represent
the standard deviations (n = 3). Control, ● CA1, ○; CA2, ▼. a-bAny means at
the same treatment time followed by different letters are significantly different
(P < 0.05) by Duncan's multiple range tests.
storage. Among the cabbages stored under different storage conditions,
vitamin C content was the highest for the CA2 group. Similarly, slightly
higher content of vitamin C was observed in the cabbage samples stored
under MA condition (15% O2/1.7% CO2, 7% O2/7% CO2) than the
control despite rapid decline of vitamin C content during storage (Yang
et al., 2018; Zhu et al., 2018). This is because the respiration rate of
Chinese cabbage during storage is effectively inhibited through con-
trolling atmosphere composition such as CA.
The highest content of total phenolics in the Chinese cabbages
stored under CA2 was also observed during storage (Fig. 3). At the end
of the storage, the content of total phenolics in the samples stored under
CA2 was 212.62 mg GAE/100 g, whereas the samples stored under CA1
and atmospheric air had 195.85 and 179.38 mg GAE/100 g, respec-
tively. It appears that total phenolic content was also affected by re-
spiration rate, and CA2 storage condition could reduce the degradation
of phenolic compounds in the Chinese cabbages, compared to
439
LWT - Food Science and Technology 111 (2019) 436–442
Fig. 4. Changes in the total glucosinolates contents of Chinese cabbages during
long-term storage under 3 different atmosphere conditions. Vertical bars re-
present the standard deviations (n = 3). Control, ● CA1, ○; CA2, ▼.
atmospheric air and CA1 storage condition.
Glucosinolate is known as one of the major bioactive compounds in
the Brassica group, such as Chinese cabbage (Lee et al., 2015). Thus,
maintaining the high content of glucosinolates in the Chinese cabbages
during storage is very important to retain their bioactivity, especially
anticarcinogenic property (Osher et al., 2018). In addition, it has been
reported that glucosinolates in the cabbage could easily degrade during
cold storage at temperatures ranging from 1 to 4 °C (Hodges et al.,
2006; Lee et al., 2015). In the present study, total glucosinolate content
was the highest (11.31 μmol/g) in the samples stored under CA2 con-
dition at the end of the storage (100 day) (Fig. 4). This glucosinolate
content is close to that (approximately 13–16 μmol/g) of fresh Chinese
cabbage (Hong et al., 2011; Hwang et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2015), in-
dicating that CA2 storage can decrease the degradation of the bioac-
tivity of the Chinese cabbages even at low storage temperature.
Therefore, these results suggested that CA storage, especially the con-
dition of 2% O2 and 2% CO2, can enhance the marketability of Chinese
cabbage by delaying the degradation of major bioactive compounds. In
addition, it should be noted that Chinese cabbages stored under pallet-
unit CA storage developed in this study can be used for producing high
quality kimchi with bioactivity, such as antioxidant, anticancer, and
antimutagenic property.
3.3. Changes in the color of the Chinese cabbages stored under different
atmospheric conditions during long-term storage
Changes in the color of Chinese cabbages under various storage
conditions were examined during 100 days of storage (Table 2). In
particular, to visually confirm the color change in the Chinese cabbages,
the photos of cross-section of the Chinese cabbages stored under dif-
ferent atmospheric conditions are shown in Fig. 5. The initial CIE color
L∗, a∗, and b∗ values of Chinese cabbages were 81.19, −1.09, and 3.11,
respectively, and the calculated hue angle was 109.68° (Table 2). Hue
angle is used as a wheel of color and classified with 0° (red color), 90°
(yellow color), 180° (green color), and 270° (blue color) (Koukounaras,
Siomos, & Sfakiotakis, 2007). During 100 days of storage, L∗ value of all
samples decreased, and a∗ and b∗ values increased (Table 2). In addi-
tion, hue angle of all samples decreased, regardless of storage condi-
tion. Among the samples, it was observed that only CA2 storage group
maintained the color quality of Chinese cabbages at the end of storage
period, similar to fresh cabbages (Table 2). In particular, the inner
leaves’ color of Chinese cabbages stored under CA1 storage rapidly
J.-H. Kang, et al. LWT - Food Science and Technology 111 (2019) 436–442

Table 2
Changes in the color of Chinese cabbages during long-term storage under 3 different atmosphere conditions.
Color parameters Treatment Storage time (day)

0 20 40 60 80 100

∗ Aa Aa ABa Ab Ab
L Control 81.19 ± 0.72 81.43 ± 0.26 80.77 ± 0.97 77.89 ± 0.72 77.57 ± 0.30 76.06 ± 1.36ABc
CA1 81.19 ± 0.72Aa 79.96 ± 1.34Ba 79.29 ± 1.67Ba 74.88 ± 0.57Bb 74.50 ± 0.64Cb 74.39 ± 2.77Bb
CA2 81.19 ± 0.72Aa 81.97 ± 0.62Aa 81.17 ± 1.06Aa 77.08 ± 0.98Ab 76.79 ± 0.08Bb 77.49 ± 0.95Ab
a∗ Control −1.09 ± 0.27Aa −0.91 ± 0.11Aa −0.84 ± 0.03Aa −0.98 ± 0.36Aa −0.96 ± 0.18Ba −0.85 ± 0.18ABa
CA1 −1.09 ± 0.27Ab −0.84 ± 0.07Aa −0.82 ± 0.09Aa −0.81 ± 0.03Aa −0.76 ± 0.07Aa −0.70 ± 0.15Aa
CA2 −1.09 ± 0.27Ab −1.08 ± 0.06Bb −0.85 ± 0.08Aa −0.96 ± 0.07Aab −0.95 ± 0.04Bab −0.93 ± 0.02Bab
b∗ Control 3.11 ± 0.79Ac 3.27 ± 1.10Abc 3.76 ± 0.27Babc 3.58 ± 0.82Aabc 4.20 ± 0.46Aab 4.61 ± 0.69Aa
CA1 3.11 ± 0.79Ac 3.87 ± 0.99Abc 4.17 ± 0.03Ab 4.18 ± 0.24Ab 4.01 ± 0.73Ab 5.12 ± 0.60Aa
CA2 3.11 ± 0.79Aa 3.41 ± 1.08Aa 3.45 ± 0.35Ba 3.67 ± 0.73Aa 3.50 ± 0.04Aa 3.76 ± 0.10Ba
Hue angle (˚) Control 109.68 ± 1.74Aa 105.61 ± 0.52Bb 103.90 ± 0.38Bc 102.67 ± 0.90Bd 101.97 ± 0.47Bde 101.34 ± 0.76Be
CA1 109.68 ± 1.74Aa 101.85 ± 0.13Cb 100.50 ± 1.19Cc 100.13 ± 0.23Cc 98.58 ± 0.68Cd 97.27 ± 0.77Ce
CA2 109.68 ± 1.74Aa 107.16 ± 0.96Ab 106.65 ± 1.39Ab 104.91 ± 0.58Ac 104.50 ± 0.31Ac 104.19 ± 0.20Ac

A−C
Any means in the same column followed by different letters are significantly different (P < 0.05) by Duncan's multiple range tests.
a-e
Any means in the same raw followed by different letters are significantly different (P < 0.05) by Duncan's multiple range tests.

changed to yellow color, and their b∗ value was the highest among the
samples (Table 2). Similar to our results, Kasim and Kasim (2012) re-
ported that increasing b∗ value of leafy vegetables indicates the increase
in yellowness of the leaves, resulting in inedible vegetables. A similar
result was reported by Zhu et al. (2018).
In good agreement with these results, severe color change in the
interior of the Chinese cabbages stored under CA1 condition was ob-
served in the images of the samples (Fig. 5). It is apparent that this
symptom occurred due to low O2 concentration (less than 1%) under
CA1 storage condition (Table 1). Similarly, Menniti et al. (1997) re-
ported that red-tan necrotic area in the heart leaves of cabbage was
observed when they were stored under low O2 concentration (1%). In
contrast, CA2 storage effectively inhibited the color change in the
Chinese cabbages during long-term storage, compared to the control
and CA1 storage group (Fig. 5). Based on these results, CA2 storage
condition did not affect the color quality of Chinese cabbages during
cold storage, and this storage condition can be a valid method for the
storage of Chinese cabbage with marketable quality. Similar to our
results, Adamicki and Gajewski (1999) reported that the Chinese cab-
bages stored under CA storage with 1.5% O2/2.5% CO2 or 3% O2/2.5%
CO2 showed better marketability than other samples stored under
higher O2 and CO2 concentration (> 3% O2 and > 5% CO2). In con-
trast, it was reported that the recommended CA condition for cabbage
(Brassica oleracea) was 2–3% O2 and 5–6% CO2 (Osher et al., 2018).
Along with the results, our experimental data indicated that the optimal
CA condition for Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L.) and cabbage
(Brassica oleracea) is different, depending on the variety, and it is ne-
cessary to perform more studies on the CA condition for Chinese cab-
bage to produce high quality of kimchi in Korea.
3.4. Changes in the population of total aerobic bacteria on the Chinese
cabbages stored under different atmospheric conditions during long-term
storage
The effects of different atmospheric compositions (CA1: 0.5% O2
and 2% CO2, CA2: 2% O2 and 2% CO2) on the growth of total aerobic
bacteria on the Chinese cabbages were investigated during storage
(Fig. 6). The initial population of total aerobic bacteria (TAB) on the
Chinese cabbages was 5.7 log CFU/g. It has been known that fresh
produce after harvest has high level (3–7 log CFU/g) of bacterial con-
tamination, depending on the type of produce and harvest season
(Ölmez & Kretzschmar, 2009). In addition, according to the report by
Putnik et al. (2017), the recommended microbial limit for fresh produce
is below 5 log CFU/g of aerobic mesophilic bacteria. Thus, it is neces-
sary to secure the microbial safety of fresh produce, including Chinese
cabbage, used in this study. The population of TAB on the samples
stored under atmospheric air condition (control) was maintained from
5.5 to 5.7 log CFU/g during 100 days of storage (Fig. 6). The inhibition
of TAB growth on the control samples during storage might be due to
low storage temperature of 2 °C. Oliveira et al. (2015) also reported that

Fig. 5. Changes in the color of Chinese cabbages during long-term storage under 3 different atmosphere conditions. (A) Control, (B) CA1, (C) CA2. (For interpretation
of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

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J.-H. Kang, et al.
Fig. 6. Changes in the populations of total aerobic bacteria on Chinese cab-
bages during long-term storage under 3 different atmosphere conditions.
Vertical bars represent the standard deviations (n = 3). Control, ● CA1, ○;
CA2, ▼.
storage temperature below 4 °C is important for microbial safety of
fresh produce along with atmospheric composition. TAB population on
the samples stored under CA1 or CA2 condition decreased gradually to
5.14–5.17 log CFU/g after 20 days of storage, showing no statistical
difference between the two groups (Fig. 6). These results indicated that
the concentration of CO2 plays a more important role in reducing TAB
than O2. The populations of TAB on the samples stored under different
CA conditions (CA1 or CA2) were lower than that on the control sam-
ples during storage.
In agreement with our results, it was reported that high CO2 content
in the storage atmosphere exhibits inhibitory activity against TAB
(Oliveira et al., 2015; Putnik et al., 2017). However, it should be noted
that the inhibition effect of high CO2 content depends on the type of
microorganism, storage temperature, and commodity of fresh produce.
Izumi and Inoue (2018) reported that high concentrations of CO2
(5–15%) did not affect the inhibition of coliforms on fresh-cut cabbage
during storage at 5 or 10 °C. However, these results might be attributed
to higher storage temperature than that used in our study. In addition,
more than 6% of CO2 could adversely affect the sensorial qualities of
Chinese cabbage, such as odor and flavor (Osher et al., 2018), sug-
gesting that excessively high concentration of CO2 should be avoided.
Overall, these results suggested that CA2 storage (2% O2 and 2% CO2)
applied in this study and low storage temperature (2 °C) can reduce the
initial population of naturally existing microorganisms on Chinese
cabbage and inhibit the microbial growth during long-term storage.
4. Conclusions
The effects of pallet-unit CA storage with two different atmosphere
compositions (CA1: 0.5% O2 and 2% CO2, CA2: 2% O2 and 2% CO2) on
the quality of Chinese cabbages during long-term storage at low tem-
perature (2 °C) were examined. More than 30% of weight in the Chinese
cabbages was lost in the control storage group, and there was severe
color deterioration in the cabbages kept under CA1 storage. In contrast,
the Chinese cabbages of CA2 storage group were observed to be of
marketable quality. In addition, CA2 storage exhibited higher in-
hibitory effect on the growth of total aerobic bacteria on Chinese cab-
bages compared to other storage conditions. Based on these results,
therefore, CA2 storage, with 2% O2 and 2% CO2, can be applied to
enhance the shelf life of Chinese cabbages used in the kimchi industry.
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LWT - Food Science and Technology 111 (2019) 436–442
Declarations of interest
None.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the funding of Rural Development
Administration in Korea (Project No. 01201802220049).
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