Combined effect of herbal essential oil and in-package microwave thermization treatment on shelf life of burfi

Abstract

Combined effect of in-package microwave thermization and two herbal essential oils on the shelf life of burfi was studied. Freshly prepared burfi containing no herbal essential oils and packaged in nylon pouches (KPA^TM), was exposed to different levels of microwave power (90-900 W) for varying times (10-90s). One exposure time was selected for each power level based on minimum visual changes and all the samples were subjected to the selected microwave power-time combination and evaluated for sensory and microbiological changes. Significant reduction in microbial growth (P<0.05) was observed in the samples exposed to 10% microwave power (90W) and 60s time. Storage study revealed that the combined effect of herbal essential oil and in-package microwave thermization treatment increased the shelf life of burfi by 4 days at 30°C and was acceptable upto 12 days at 5°C, respectively. Thus, indicating the potential of combined effect of herbal essential oil and in-package thermization (microwave) treatment as a successful preservation technique for burfi