Extending the shelf life of Moringa leaves through packaging and cold storage

Green leafy vegetables are highly nutritious and occupies a predominant role in Indian diet. A variety of greens are consumed in different parts of a country among which moringa leaves stands top. Leafy vegetables are perishable in nature and so their shelf life depends on the storage conditions. In the view of increasing the demand for green leafy vegetables with fresh good quality, a research has been undertaken to assess the quality of moringa leaves by using different packaging materials and different storage conditions. Influence of packaging conditions on moringa leaves were studied during two different storage temperatures. The pretreated moringa leaves were packaged in Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) of 150 gauge thickness, High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) of 400 gauge thickness with and without one percentage vent and aluminum foil kept under both ambient air temperature and refrigerated conditions. The results revealed that quality deterioration was found to be lower in aluminum foil followed by HDPE without vent kept at refrigerated conditions respectively. Aluminum foil wrapped treatment was found to be best in retaining the colour, less reduction in vitamin C content, protein content and higher moisture content with the higher shelf life of twelve days.