Research Results
Storing fresh cut green beans
In GreenCHAINge an innovative ‘smart chain’ is being developed. Overall goal is to improve the intrinsic quality of the produce on the shelf. Fresh cut green beans are a project of interest.
Objective
Fresh cut green beans are an important crop on the retail shelf. One of the questions is how long fresh beans can be stored before being cut and packed without any quality loss during shelf life.
Experiment and Results
Fresh beans were buffered for 0, 2, 4 and 7 days at 3°C. The cultivar used for making cut beans “Stanley” can be buffered for 4 days and still has an excellent appearance. After 7 days, brown discoloration developed during the shelf life, but the beans remained acceptable.
Longer stored beans gain more weight in the washing process.
Defect distribution after 7 days shelf life in cut green beans (cv “Domino” and “Stanley”) for 4 storage durations before cutting and packing. Green: intact beans, red: limp beans, brown: brown coloration, blue: rot, black: bruised beans.
Conclusion
Green Beans of the variety “Stanley” can be buffered for 4 days at 3°C without causing any quality loss during shelf life after cutting.
Fresh beans have a limited amount of storage time before they have to be processed. If they are stored too long before processing quality during shelf life will be impaired. The storage time is cultivar dependent.