Author's personal copy ORIGINAL ARTICLE Quality assessment minimally processed immature jakfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus, Lam.) as affected by pretreatments H. Ekanayaka 1 & K. Abeywickrama 1 & R. Jayakody 2 & I. Herath 3 Revised: 24 March 2015 /Accepted: 4 May 2015 # Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2015 Abstract Degree of browning, firmness, sensory properties and microbiological quality of minimally processed immature jakfruit were investigated on initial and seventh day after stor- age at 5–7 °C. Samples were pretreated with 0.5 % and 1 % sodium metabisulphite, 1.5 % citric acid+1.5 % ascorbic acid, 3 % citric acid, 3 % ascorbic acid and packed in polystyrene packages and over wrapped with polyvinylchloride (PVC) stretch film before storage. When degree of browning in rela- tion to absorbance was assessed, immature jakfruit pretreated with 1.5 % citric acid+1.5 % ascorbic acid showed the lowest absorbance at 420 nm among all pretreated samples indicating low browning in samples. At 450 nm, minimally processed immature jackfruit samples pretreated with 1.5 % citric acid+ 1.5 % ascorbic acid showed the highest reflectance (indicating lowest absorbance) compared to other treatments. Variations in firmness were observed after treatment. Microbial counts were within safe-to-consume limits while coliforms were not detected in any of the samples. Erwinia aphidicola and Bacillus subtilis were identified from minimally processed immature jakfruit samples using molecular tools. 1.5 % citric acid+1.5 % ascorbic acid, 1 % sodium metabisulphite and 3 % citric acid were relatively more successful in retaining acceptable sensory quality of jakfruit even after 7 days of storage. Above pretreatments could be recommended during minimal processing of immature jakfruit meant for local sale in supermarkets where cold storage is available. Keywords Immature jakfruit . Browning . Minimal processing . Pretreatments Introduction Jakfruit is a high yielding popular crop in the Asian and the African continent. The value of its versatility is enhanced in Sri Lanka by its availability during the monsoon rain period when the supply of other vegetables is low (Singh et al. 1963). In many parts of Asia, jakfruit is an intercrop in coconut groves, durian, mango, citrus orchards and coffee plantations. It is a common tree in mixed home gardens in South East Asia (Elevitch and Manner 2006). Jakfruit is consumed both as a vegetable in the unripe stage and also as a desert fruit when ripe. Unripe (immature) com- modity has a meat like taste and used in curry dishes mixed with spices & in meatless sandwiches (Ong et al. 2008). The edible part of the fruit is made of soft, easily-digestible flesh where 100 g provides about 95 cal which is also a good source of vitamin C and A (Morton 1987). Immature jakfruit there- fore, has a high export potential in the local and overseas markets. However, cleaning and preparation process of this commodity is quite unpleasant since the fruit is full of gummy latex that sticks to the hands and knives. Enzymatic browning that occurs as soon as the peel is removed is one of the main problems associated with this commodity. If the technology could be developed to minimally process immature jakfruit, value added products could be made available to the Sri Lankan and export markets. Most of the working people all over the world due to work pressure have shown a keen interest in convenient minimally * K. Abeywickrama kris@kln.ac.lk 1 Department of Botany, University of Kelaniya, Kelaniya, Sri Lanka 2 Department of Botany, The Open University of Sri Lanka, Nawala, Sri Lanka 3 Genetech Moleculer Diagnostic & School of Gene Technology, Colombo 08, Sri Lanka J Food Sci Technol DOI 10.1007/s13197-015-1868-2