Mathematical modeling of degradation quality on snake fruit (Salacca edulis) quality during storage in modified atmosphere packaging

Snake fruit is one of the abundantly produced commodities that has great potential to be processed into derivative products with higher selling value. Yogyakarta contributed 512,228 tons of snake fruit production from the total of 1,225,088.00 tons production of snake fruit in Indonesia in 2020. As it is nonseasonal fruit, snake fruit can be a beneficial export commodity from Indonesia. However, its short shelf life can cause the fruit to rot quickly. This study aims to determine the effect of modified atmosphere packaging during storage on snake fruit qualities, such as moisture, weight loss, and carbohydrate. This study also proposes a mathematical model to predict the degradation of carbohydrates. Snake fruits were packed into a different package of polypropylene plastic with 21% and 10% concentrations of oxygen. The physico-chemical properties were periodically measured to identify quality degradation of snake fruit every 2 days for MAP 21% and every 4 days for MAP 10%. The carbohydrate content from fresh to rotten snake fruit was investigated using the Lane-Eynon method, the weight loss was measured by comparing the final weight with the original weight, and moisture content was measured by the thermography method. The result showed that MAP with 21% Oxygen affected the weight losses by 4.72%, decreased moisture content from 84.78% to 80.06%, and carbohydrate content from 19.64% to 6.72% for 24 days of storage. MAP with 10% Oxygen affected the weight losses by 5.58%, decreased moisture content from 84.78% to 79.2%, and carbohydrate content from 19.64% to 6.72% for 60 days of storage. The purpose of this research was to develop a mathematical model based on the mechanism of the processes that occur during the storage period and submit it with experimental data. The obtained mathematical model is dCBkdt=1vk{ (CpBU−CBK)−kcb_BAbuah(CBk−CBb) };dCBbdt=kcb_B(CBk−CBb)AfruitVtotal fruit−Vfruit−(−k C1CA6B);dCAdt=−kC1CA6.BA computer program was developed to solve the mathematic model and simulated gas exchange and carbohydrate content in the package of snake fruit. The simulation results provided an answer for gas exchange in a suitable package for the storage of snake fruit. However, the simulation of carbohydrate changes remained disproportionate.