eng Science and Education Publishing Journal of Food and Nutrition Research 2333-1240 2017-02-28 5 3 144 150 10.12691/jfnr-5-3-1 JFNR2017531 article Jihong ZHANG jihongzh01@xtu.edu.cn 1 Li ZENG 1 Helong SUN 1 Junhong ZHANG 2 Shaoyang CHEN 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, China Department of Horticulture and Forestry, Huazhong Agriculture University, Wuhan, China Physicochemical properties of citric acid and chitosan treated fresh tomato fruits were investigated in the present study. The experimental results showed that control fruits had higher weight loss, lower firmness and pH, but tomatoes-treated with chitosan and citric acid had no significant effect on pH, Vc, TSS and firmness, but significantly increased the SOD, POD, CAT and PAL activities of fresh tomatoes. All these treated tomato fruits maintained lighter color and higher contents of total phenolics and flavonoids, significantly decreased weight loss and MDA content of fresh tomato fruits compared to control. Of all these treated tomato fruits, citric acid + chitosan treatment maintained higher fruit quality, reduced the undesirable changes and protected the fruit tissues from injury. In short, the experiment datum indicated that citric acid + chitosan might be applied in a safe and effective preservative of fresh tomato fruits. http://pubs.sciepub.com/jfnr/5/3/1/jfnr-5-3-1.pdf chitosan citric acid water loss firmness MDA total phenolics