Our hypothesis is that the cut fruits and vegetables in a closed container like ziploc bags will stay fresh and edible for long duration when kept in the fridge (4 degrees celsius ) as compared to cut fruits and vegetable in ziploc bags at room temperature ( 22 deg celsius ) because once cut fruits and vegetables are exposed to air borne micro-organisms like bacteria and fungi, which can infect and grow easily at higher temperature and therefore degrade the fruits and vegetables, making them unsuitable to eat.

Food degradation is a process whereby food become unsuitable for consumption. Many factors are responsible for food degradation - Physical, Chemical and Biological. All these factors play important role in the process of food degradation. Food items such as fruits and vegetables in presence of physical factor such as moisture, oxygen, light and temperature, and biological factors such as microbes present in the air leads to the chemical changes in the food items that results in their degradation. Biological factors that include microbes such as bacteria and fungi use the physical factors like the condition of food item, temperature at which they are stored; presence of air and their moisture content to grow on the food items and begin their degradation by causing the chemical changes in the food and by producing toxins.

Independent/Manipulative Variable Temperature – Room temperature and fridge temperature.

Dependent Variable Cut fruits and vegetables. Controlled Variable Ziploc bags, storage condition (dark space), Fruit and vegetable size and we squeezed as much as oxygen out of the ziploc bags.

1. Labeled Ziploc bags with each item’s name and the temperature they kept in. 2. Evenly cut in half each of the four fruits and vegetables and place them into the labeled Ziploc bags. 3. Took pictures of each item.  4. Put each of the cut item at respective temperatures.  5. Observe them every day. 6. Took pictures every other day until day 8

I observed all the cut fruits and vegetables at both temperature everyday for 8 days and design the following observation table to score their condition as shown below -

Tomatoes: Room temp: Rotten with fungi and bacterial growth /Fridge: Bit dry Mandarins: Room temp: Rotten with fungi and bacteria /Fridge: Little dry and kind of discoloured Green onions: Room temp: Very dry and shrunken /Fridge: Little dry and kind of discoloured Bell peppers: Room temp: Rotten with fungi and bacteria /Fridge: A little dry

All of the foods we tested stay fresher and more edible in the fridge rather than room temperature where everything was non edible.Still, the foods in the fridge were not fresh by the end of this experiment.

1. Cut fruits and vegetables is not suitable to eat when it’s sitting out for a long time. 2. Putting cut fruits and vegetables in room temperature for a long time is not a great idea; the food can get fungi or bacteria. 3. If you put them in fridge for a long time\, they become discoloured and get dry even if it’s in a Ziploc bag. 4. It’s best to eat cut fruits and vegetables right away.

From this project, we learned that cut fruits and vegetables are not healthy and nutritious when it’s sitting out at room temperature in a closed container like Ziploc bags because over time they get dry; become discoloured and also get bacterial/fungi growth. We also learned that temperature plays an important role in the degradation of fruits and vegetables, and it is best to eat them immediately or if fruits and vegetables need to be kept then they can be kept at a lower temperature like fridge in an air-tight Ziploc bag for few days in order to keep them fresh and edible.

There could be some source of errors in this project, which are as follows -

1. The status of fruits and vegetables at the beginning of experiment is not known i.e\, how fresh they are when bought from the market. 2. Though fruits and vegetables are kept in dark at both temperatures (inside cabinet and in fridge)\, some exposure to light may happen whenever cabinet or fridge opened. 3. Though fruits and vegetables are cut equally in half\, and one half of each was kept at room temperature and other half in fridge; some difference in the volume of cut fruits and vegetables at each temperature is possible.

1. Main Causes of Food Deterioration: Biological and Chemical Factors https://agriculture.institute/food-fundamentals-fv/main-causes-food-deterioration/

2. Why Food Goes Bad https://www.foodsaver.ca/en_CA/blog/archive/2014/september/why-food-goes-bad.html

We want to thank Aaliyah's parents for buying the food for this experiment.

We would also like to thank Aarna's parents for letting do this experiment in their household.