Apple Oxidation

Apple oxidation is seen everyday, from the apple grown on a tree to the apples in a fruit salad. Apples have oxidized when a section of the apple begins to turn brown. The cells in an apple breaking down and puncturing allow for this process to occur. When an apple cell is cut the enzymes, which hold Vitamin C, are open to oxygen. Enzymes, which are protein, are opened to new temperatures and pressure that destroy the enzymes and kill the cell. The process is called Polyphenol Oxidase.
Enzymes are important, because enzymes are what keep an apple from being dull and bitter. Enzymes control temperature and chemical reaction throughout the apple cell. Enzymes are also important to humans and are what help humans to maintain a good healthy metabolism. A negative effect of enzymes is that they can cause trosinase. Trosinase is when an enzyme supports and promotes oxidation. when an enzyme promotes oxidation inside the body of a human, it can be harmful. That enzyme can will create melanin, which causes tanning, or albinism, which causes sun poisioning.

Preventing Oxidation

Factories have been preventing oxidation of apples and other types of fruits since the 1930's. Factories prevent oxidation by Controlled Atmosphere Temperature Treatment System, or CATTS. During the process of CATTS, the factories use high temperature levels, low oxygen levels and high carbon dioxide levels. CATTS is used to prevent pests from getting into fruit, like coding moths and other types of insects. Most of the fruit eaten today comes from other countries and without CATTS; people would be consuming foreign insects and spoiled fruit. The spoiled fruit could cause people to become ill and the foreign bugs could infest our crops.
When CATTS is used, a chemical process called Methyl Bromide Fumigation is used to get rid of the bugs and to prevent the spoiling of the fruit. The only problem is, Methyl Bromide Fumigation is a product that is very hard to get and can cost ten dollars a pound. Since Methyl Bromide Fumigation has a heavy mass this can become really expensive. So agricultural researchers have found an inexpensive type of Methyl Bromide that is very safe to the environment.

Changing the temperature in the atmosphere can help prevent the aging process of an apple. By putting an apple in heated water, the enzymes get denatured to make the aging process slow down a lot. When apples are put in colder temperatures of water, the water begins to break down the cell wall and introduce the enzymes to the air. This process causes the enzymes to die. Putting apples in any form of water will slow the process down a little, because it prevents oxygen from getting to the cells in an apple. Putting high levels of an acid on the apples can prevent the process of oxidation. The higher the level of acidic drops, the higher the PH level is of an apple, which then will slow the process of aging down. By putting lemon juice or Vitamin C, we can give the apples that higher PH level, allowing the process of oxidationm to decrease. By adding substances like cranberry juice or salt, the process of oxidation increases. Also, if you pput an apple in water at 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the apple should not have oxidized at all. If you put an apple in water at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the apple will oxidize completely.

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