Challenges of tomato packaging for the market: evaluation of Alternaria toxins

Packaging of fresh fruits and vegetables before its exposure at the market is becoming the common practice applied in order to increase shelf life of the products. There is a variety of packaging solutions using different packaging materials available and utilized for packaging of fresh produce including tomato as well. Thus, the aim of this research was to determine the influence of different packaging solutions based on conventional polymer packaging materials on postharvest shelf-life of fresh tomato under conditions commonly applied at the market, regarding the content of alternariol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), and tenuazonic acid (TeA) as a most common Alternaria toxins which are frequent contaminants in fruit and vegetables. For this purpose, fully ripe tomato fruits (Solanum lycopersicum L.) hybrid “Brooklyn” were collected and stored on 13 °C ± 1°C and relative humidity of 95 % ± 5%. Unpacked samples and samples packed in different packaging materials (polyethylene, perforated polyethylene, cellophane, perforated cellophane, polystyrene wrapped with polypropylene stretch film) were stored for 7, 14 and 21 days. For evaluation of Alternaria toxins, validated method of high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used. After 14 days of storage TeA was quantified in a tomato sample packed in polyethylene, while the other two Alternaria toxins were not detected. After 21 days of storage in tomato samples which were packed in polyethylene and perforated polyethylene, all investigated Alternaria toxins were quantified, while only TeA was quantified in tomato samples packed in cellophane and perforated cellophane. On the basis of the results obtained, it can be concluded that unpacked tomatoes and tomatoes packed in polystyrene wrapped with polypropylene stretch film under given storage conditions were safe, since none of the tested Alternaria toxins has been detected in these samples during 21 days of storage.