EFFECT OF PERFORATION MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE PACKAGING ON QUALITY OF FRESH-CUT CARROT DURING STORAGE Lien Le Phuong Nguyen 1,3* , Tamás Zsom 2 , Géza Hitka 2 , Ildikó Csilla Zeke 1 , László Friedrich 1 1 Szent István University, Department of Refrigeration and Livestock Product Technology, Budapest, Hungary. 2 Szent István University, Department of Postharvest Science and Sensory Evaluation, Budapest, Hungary. 3 Biotechnology and Food Technology Institute, Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam E-mail: Nguyen.Le.Phuong.Lien@etk.szie.hu The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of perforation modified atmosphere packaging on quality of carrot slices during 12 days of storage at 5 °C. Polyethylene bags with different number of perforations (3, 4 and 6) were used in this experiment. Headspace oxygen concentration, respiration, weight loss, surface color, firmness, pH, and soluble solid content were examined throughout storage. It was observed, that all the investigated packages were equally effective in maintaining the quality of carrot slices. There was no symptom of decay till the end of the experiment. In addition, pH, soluble solid content and firmness showed only minor change. Moreover, weight loss of carrot slices was below 2 % after 12 days of storage. Thus, perforation modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) has been proved to be efficient in maintaining the quality of slice carrot. Keywords: carrot, fresh-cut, MAP, storage Introduction Nowadays, food quality is an interesting topic comprising a set of standards about nutrition, safety and sensory characteristics of produce (Nyarko et al., 2016, Ukuku, 2006). These factors influence the customer acceptance (Mc Kay et al., 2011). In order to meet the market requirement, alternative technologies have been applied in food processing including modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), ohmic heating, pulsed electric fields, micro-wave heating and ultra sound (Deliza et al., 2005). MAP is one of the powerful techniques that is widely used for extending the shelf-life of fresh-cut product. Fresh-cut is currently a growing market because of its convenience, and availability (Alandes et al., 2009). Carrot being an important vegetable is popularly used in ready-to-eat