Postharvest Preservation of Thai Mango var. Chok-Anan by the Combination of Pulsed Electric Field and Chemical Pickling
Kailash Samal
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Authors need to fill the gap by providing available preservation methods for Mangoes. what are other ways to preserve fruit? and then why do you choose to pickle.
sensorial aspects are important in postharvest preservation to look at the texture, taste and feel.
Figure 4- provide arrows- what you are trying to show.
discussion can be improved by providing mechanisms involved for the changes.
you may include the following literature to fill the gap - 1) Advances in postharvest technologies to extend the storage life of minimally processed fruits and vegetables. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 58 (15), 2632-2649, 2018.
2)Characterization of Southeast Asia mangoes (Mangifera indica L) according to their physicochemical attributes Scientia Horticulturae 243, 189-196.
3)Storage behaviour and quality responses of mango (Mangifera indica L.) fruit treated with chitosan and gum arabic coatings during cold storage conditionsG Khaliq, MTM Mohamed, P Ding, HM Ghazali. International Food Research Journal 23 (5), 141-148. 2016.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Thank you so much for your comment and suggestion. We did revise and change this manuscript following your comment as show in below. Thank you.
Point 1: Authors need to fill the gap by providing available preservation methods for Mangoes. what are other ways to preserve fruit? and then why do you choose to pickle.
Response 1: Thank you for your suggestion. We did add information following the suggested works of literature. (Page 1, Line 37-40)
Point 2: Sensorial aspects are important in postharvest preservation to look at the texture, taste and feel.
Response 2: Thank you for your point this out. However, PEF is applied using a machine prototype, manufactured by the authors. Therefore, the other information must be collected before sensorial aspects as final conditions. We will do this in further studies.
Point 3: Figure 4- provide arrows- what you are trying to show.
Response 3: Thank you for your point this out. We did add the yellow arrows to Figure 4. (Page 10)
Point 4: Discussion can be improved by providing mechanisms involved for the changes.
Response 4: Thank you for your suggestion. We did add this data in a change of mango tissue structure by PEF in Page 10, Line 313-319.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
In Table 1, 2, 3, +/- indicates standard deviation or errors? describe in table caption
in the table 2, there are some picture but not scale, please add bar scale to estimation the size
The quality of Figure 4 is bad, the authors shoude revise to increase resolution the image.
In Figure 2/3, bar-scale in the top-graphic is standard deviation or errors? describe in Fig caption
what the unit stands for water activity?
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments
Thank you so much for your comment and suggestion. We did revise and change this manuscript following your comment as show in below. Thank you.
Point 1: In Table 1, 2, 3, +/- indicates standard deviation or errors? describe in table caption
Response 1: Thank you for your suggestion. We did add the captions as indicated by a standard deviation under Table 1, 2, and 3.
Point 2: in the table 2, there are some picture but not scale, please add bar scale to estimation the size.
Response 2: We did add the bar scale 1 cm: 0.5 cm to estimate the mango size in Table 2. (Page 8)
Point 3: The quality of Figure 4 is bad, the authors should revise to increase resolution the image.
Response 3: Thank you very much for your comment. We did revise and increase the resolution of Figure 4.
Point 4: In Figure 2/3, bar-scale in the top-graphic is standard deviation or errors? describe in Fig caption
Response 4: We did add the bar scale and description of standard deviation in Figures 2 and 3, respectively.
Point 5: What the unit stands for water activity?
Response 5: There was no SI unit for water activity (aw). The aw equals equilibrium relative humidity (%) divided by 100: (aw = ERH/100).
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
1. The content of the paper entitled “Postharvest preservation of Thai mango var. Chok-anan by the 2 combination of pulsed electric field and chemical pickling” is a unique and worthy research topic to work upon.
2. The conclusion is justifiable as the overall findings suggest that, the microstructure 21 of mango was more disintegrated on the surface after PEF than for the conventional pickling process.
3. Plagiarism – 26% (Report attached). Minimize it to below 10%.
4. The abstract is informative and it reflects the body of the paper.
5. The introduction provides sufficient background information for readers in the immediate field to understand the problem/hypotheses.
6. The text of this article is well arranged and logically clear. However, some grammatical error was found and marked in yellow colour in the pdf. It is suggested to the authors to read once again and rectify the mistakes.
7. The theoretical analysis in this article is strong.
8. All figures/tables are clear enough to summarize the results for presentation to the readers and are well-referred to in the text.
9. Recent references are provided and the section is very informative.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 3 Comments
Thank you so much for your comment and suggestion. We did revise and change this manuscript following your comment as show in below. Thank you.
Point 1: The content of the paper entitled “Postharvest preservation of Thai mango var. Chok-anan by the 2 combination of pulsed electric field and chemical pickling” is a unique and worthy research topic to work upon.
Response 1: Thank you.
Point 2: The conclusion is justifiable as the overall findings suggest that, the microstructure of mango was more disintegrated on the surface after PEF than for the conventional pickling process.
Response 2: Thank you.
Point 3: Plagiarism – 26% (Report attached). Minimize it to below 10%.
Response 3: We try our best to plagiarize, but the minimum value was just below 20%. This is because some sentence is an academic sentence and have unique phases, especially, material and methods. However, we managed to reduce other parts such as the introduction and results, and discussion. Please look at the report attached.
Point 4: The abstract is informative and it reflects the body of the paper.
Response 4: Thank you
Point 5: The introduction provides sufficient background information for readers in the immediate field to understand the problem/hypotheses.
Response 5: Thank you.
Point 6: The text of this article is well arranged and logically clear. However, some grammatical error was found and marked in yellow colour in the pdf. It is suggested to the authors to read once again and rectify the mistakes.
Response 6: Thank you for your comment. We edited the manuscript and ask the native speaker to proofread our work.
Point 7: The theoretical analysis in this article is strong.
Response 7: Thank you.
Point 8: All figures/tables are clear enough to summarize the results for presentation to the readers and are well-referred to in the text.
Response 7: Thank you.
Point 9: Recent references are provided and the section is very informative.
Response 7: Thank you.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
The authors are testing the effects of applying the pulsed electric field (PEF) method during mango pickling, by studying different organoleptic and morphological traits and comparing the results to the conventional pickling process. Moreover, PEF is applied using a machine prototype, manufactured by the authors as I understand, whose performance is comparable to other commercial and more expensive alternatives. The authors provide sufficient evidence to support the overall benefits of the PEF-mediated mango pickling compared to conventional pickling, both at the morphological and organoleptic level but also at the level of time- and cost-related performance.
Even though in the vast majority of the measured traits the PEF-based pickling had a beneficial effect, compared to the conventional method, the browning of the pulp and the drop of ascorbic acid after applying PEF can be of significant concern when we are considering a processed fruit. Even though processed fruits are not equivalent to their fresh counterparts, consumers buy these products due to their longer shelf-life and, as a principle, they expect that the product's appearance will as close as possible to that of the fresh product. The browning effect of PEF on mango pulp is certainly a significant change in the product's appearance and I think that the authors should comment on the effect that this can have on the commercial value of the product. Accordingly, the drop in the concentration of ascorbic acid constitutes a reduction of the antioxidant potential of the product, a property highly evaluated by the consumers. I would like the authors to comment also on the consequence that this finding can have on the commercial value of the product.
Regarding the Materials and Methods, the authors do not mention the number of replicates used in each analysis. They could add these numbers at the end of the legend in the corresponding figure and table.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 4 Comments
Thank you so much for your comment and suggestion. We did revise and change this manuscript following your comment as show in below. Thank you.
Point 1: The authors are testing the effects of applying the pulsed electric field (PEF) method during mango pickling, by studying different organoleptic and morphological traits and comparing the results to the conventional pickling process. Moreover, PEF is applied using a machine prototype, manufactured by the authors as I understand, whose performance is comparable to other commercial and more expensive alternatives. The authors provide sufficient evidence to support the overall benefits of the PEF-mediated mango pickling compared to conventional pickling, both at the morphological and organoleptic level but also at the level of time- and cost-related performance.
Even though in the vast majority of the measured traits the PEF-based pickling had a beneficial effect, compared to the conventional method, the browning of the pulp and the drop of ascorbic acid after applying PEF can be of significant concern when we are considering a processed fruit. Even though processed fruits are not equivalent to their fresh counterparts, consumers buy these products due to their longer shelf-life and, as a principle, they expect that the product's appearance will as close as possible to that of the fresh product. The browning effect of PEF on mango pulp is certainly a significant change in the product's appearance and I think that the authors should comment on the effect that this can have on the commercial value of the product.
Response 1: Thank you very much for this valuable comment. As suggested, we added the informative browning index (BI) by calculating the color value and added it to Table 2. In addition, we also stated this statement in the text. (Page 7-8, Line 249-255)
Point 2: Accordingly, the drop in the concentration of ascorbic acid constitutes a reduction of the antioxidant potential of the product, a property highly evaluated by the consumers. I would like the authors to comment also on the consequence that this finding can have on the commercial value of the product.
Response 2: Thank you for your comment. Even though, the ascorbic acid was decreased when PEF was applied. However, the beta-carotene was increased. This might be can replace the biological activity of this product. We added some more information to this statement. (Page 9, Line 295-297)
Point 3: Regarding the Materials and Methods, the authors do not mention the number of replicates used in each analysis. They could add these numbers at the end of the legend in the corresponding figure and table.
Response 3: Thank you for your comment. The number of replication was added. Page 3, section 2.6.1; Page 4, section 2.6.2; 2.6.3; 2.6.3; and 2.7.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
you need to justify the work. why do you want to pickle there are several feasible technologies available to store the mangoes for a longer duration. you need to fill the gap by adding more relevant literature on SE mangoes
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Thank you so much for your comment and suggestion. We did revise and change this manuscript following your comment as show in below. Thank you.
Point 1: You need to justify the work. Why do you want to pickle there are several feasible technologies available to store the mangoes for a longer duration. You need to fill the gap by adding more relevant literature on SE mangoes.
Response 1: As we mentioned in the manuscript, there are several technologies to preserve mango. (Page 1, line 37-40) However, we decided to use the pickling process because the pickled product is easier than other technology. The farmers or households could be made at their house. In addition, there was a huge burden on seasonal mango production. Thus, pickling is the first choice for this experiment. Moreover, PEF is applied using a machine prototype, manufactured by the authors. The authors tried to provide sufficient evidence to support the overall benefits of the PEF-mediated mango pickling compared to conventional pickling. This might be a useful tool for a small business applications or farmers. We added some more statements in the text. (Page 2, line 44-47)
Pickling is simply a preservation method and is an attractive process in an effort to produce all-natural and minimally processed foods [9]. In addition, pickles could be consumed as a side dish and act as appetizers and digestive agents [10].
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
