Abstract

                                Coriander leaves used as culinary herbs have poor shelf life due to poor handling and packaging. A study was carried out for enhancing the shelf life of fresh coriander leaves by using modified atmosphere packaging. Based on oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) permeability, low density polyethylene bag with 152 micron thickness was selected and used for this study. The coriander leaves were subjected to pre-cooling at 10oC for 10 min. and packed in the bags with a product to free volume ratio of 17. The selected bags were flushed with 5% O2 , 5% CO2 and 90% N2 and stored at ambient and refrigerated conditions. The physical, biochemical and microbial quality of green coriander leaves revealed that no significant changes in weight, colour value, chlorophyll content and beta carotene content of coriander leaves up to 20th day of storage under refrigerated condition whereas at room temperature it stays only for four days.

Key words : Coriander leaves, microbial load, modified atmosphere packaging and shelf life.