Mushrooms are very perishable foods due to their
high susceptibility to moisture loss, changes in color and texture,
or microbiological spoilage. Drying is considered as the
most appropriate method to prevent these alterations, but it has
some limitations, such as shrinkage, enzymatic and nonenzymatic
browning reactions, and oxidation of lipids and
vitamins. According to previous studies, irradiation might effectively
attenuate the undesirable changes caused by drying
process, ensuring also higher shelf-life of mushrooms and their
decontamination. Electron-beam irradiation presents some
technological advantages, since it allows higher dose rates
and the possibility to be used in most foods/or thin products
in a short period. Herein, the combined effects of electron-beam
irradiation (0, 0.5, 1 and 6 kGy) and storage time (0, 6 and
12 months) were evaluated by measuring changes in nutritional
parameters, namely, free sugars, tocopherols, fatty acids and
antioxidant activity. As indicated by linear discriminant analysis,
storage time had a higher effect on all the evaluated parameters,
except fatty acids, which suffer significant changes with
both factors. Overall, the obtained results indicate that electronbeam
irradiation might be considered as a suitable technique,
allowing long-lasting conservation periods while reducing
changes induced by drying treatment.
