Assessment of Mechanical Damage to Tropea Red Onion PGI During Processing

The commercial value of onions “Cipolla Rossa di Tropea Calabria PGI” is also determined by the absence of external imperfections and the management of the harvest and post-harvest phases is crucial for the product to maintain the quality standards preferred by consumers. Improper physical handling, dropping and shocks during harvesting, grading, packing and transport can cause structural, tissue and cell damage to the vegetable's commercial quality and shelf-life increasing the growth of microorganisms and susceptibility to decay. Damages can be caused by impact, compression, abrasion, puncturing, or maybe caused by the combined action. Imitative rheological (dynamometric) measurements can be very useful for studying the physical and structural properties of food products to manage handling, processing, quality control, and evaluation of sensorial characteristics. Rheological analyses are based on the measurement, carried out under controlled flow or deformation conditions, of the material's response to controlled mechanical stresses. The objective of this paper is to test spring onion response to mechanical stresses causing compression and penetration damage simulated in the laboratory using a texture analyser.