The impact of delactosed whey permeate treatment on shelf‐life and antioxidant contents of strawberries

Summary The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of delactosed whey permeate (DWP) treatment on antioxidant and physicochemical properties of strawberries. Fresh strawberries treated with 3% DWP were analysed for different quality, nutritional and microbiological markers during 10 days of storage at 5 °C. The results showed that DWP treatment significantly reduced incidences of decay (70%) and numbers of total aerobic counts (∼1.4 Log10 CFU g−1) and yeast and moulds (∼1.8 Log10 CFU g−1). DWP treatment also inhibited the loss of firmness (15%) and maintained significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher levels of vitamin C, total phenols and antioxidant activity of strawberries. Sensory scores confirmed that the DWP‐treated strawberries retained a good appearance and overall quality. The aroma and colour attributes were not reduced during storage. These results suggest that DWP treatment has potential to extend the shelf‐life and maintain the quality of strawberries during storage.