Assessment of changes in product quality and antioxidant activity of dried soursop (Annona muricata L.) during product storage

•Plastic jar packaging at 15 °C preserved soursop's key nutrients.•After 4 weeks, soursop met food safety regulations.•Optimizing storage and packaging enhances food quality.•Valuable insights for the food industry provided. Innovations for product preservation have attracted interest as they may increase the shelf-life of items when stored properly. In this study, the effects of various storage conditions, including four types of packaging (paper packaging, paper combined PE packaging, aluminum combined PE packaging, and plastic jar packaging) and temperatures (5, 15, 30, and 45 °C) on the quality of dried soursop were evaluated.The results demonstrated that the combination of plastic jar packaging and a storage temperature of 15 °Cretained a significant portion of the initial total ascorbic acid content, total polyphenol content, and total flavonoid content. After four weeks of storage, the dried soursop preserve packaged in a plastic jar and stored at 15 °C exhibited a moisture content of 22.977 ± 0.093 %, total ascorbic acid content of 9.7 ± 0.46 mg/100gDW, total polyphenol content of 8.12 ± 0.06 mgGAE/gDW, total flavonoid content of 0.18 ± 0.02 mgQE/gDW, DPPH and ABTSscavenging activity of 0.69 ± 0.01 mgAA/gDW and 0.82 ± 0.01 mgAA/gDW, respectively. Moreover, the product meets the requirements of decision 46/2007/QD-BYT regulating the limits on biological and chemical contamination in food.The study offers valuable insights for the food industry in optimizing packaging and storage conditions to ensure the storage of quality and health-beneficial properties of this product.