Effectiveness of organic acid, ozonated water and chlorine dippings on microbial reduction and storage quality of fresh-cut iceberg lettuce
✍ Scribed by Meltem Yesilcimen Akbas; Hülya Ölmez
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2007
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 169 KB
- Volume
- 87
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0022-5142
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The comparative effects of organic (citric and lactic) acids, ozone and chlorine on the microbiological population and quality parameters of fresh‐cut lettuce during storage were evaluated.
RESULTS: Dipping of lettuce in 100 mg L^−1^ chlorine solution reduced the numbers of mesophilic and psychrotrophic bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae by 1.7, 2.0 and 1.6 log~10~ colony‐forming units (CFU) g^−1^ respectively. Treatment of lettuce with citric (5 g L^−1^) and lactic (5 mL L^−1^) acid solutions and ozonated water (4 mg L^−1^) reduced the populations of mesophilic and psychrotrophic bacteria by 1.7 and 1.5 log~10~ CFU g^−1^ respectively. Organic acid dippings resulted in lower mesophilic and psychrotrophic counts than ozonated water and chlorine dippings during 12 days of storage. Lactic acid dipping effectively reduced (by 2.2 log~10~ CFU g^−1^) and maintained low populations of Enterobacteriaceae on lettuce for the first 6 days of storage. No significant (P > 0.05) changes were observed in the texture and moisture content of lettuce samples dipped in chlorine, organic acids and ozonated water during storage. Colour, β‐carotene and vitamin C values of fresh‐cut iceberg lettuce did not change significantly (P > 0.05) until day 8.
CONCLUSION: Lactic and citric acid and ozonated water dippings could be alternative treatments to chlorine dipping to prolong the shelf life of fresh‐cut iceberg lettuce. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry