Effect of Decontamination Agents on the Microbial Population, Sensorial Quality, and Nutrient Content of Grated Carrots (Daucus carota L.)

Abstract

Several decontamination agents including water, sodium hypochlorite, peroxyacetic acid, neutral electrolyzed oxidizing water, and chlorine dioxide gas were tested for their effectiveness to reduce the natural microflora on grated carrots. Microbial reductions of the total aerobic count obtained after the different treatments varied between 0.11 and 3.29 log colony-forming units (cfu)/g. Whether or not a decontamination step induced significant changes in the sensory attributes of grated carrots is highly dependent on the type and concentration of disinfectant. To maintain the nutritional value, the influence of the decontamination agents on carotenoid content, alpha-tocopherol content, total phenols, and antioxidant capacity was studied. Besides the part of the nutrients that was leached away from the cutting areas by water, the nutrient losses caused by adding sanitizers were rather limited. Compared with the untreated carrots alpha-tocopherol content was, however, significantly reduced when 250 ppm of peroxyacetic acid (-80%) or 200 ppm of sodium hypochlorite (-59%) was used. Additional losses in carotenoid content were caused by contact with chlorine dioxide gas (-9%). On the condition of an optimized decontamination process toward time and concentration, the microbial quality of fresh-cut carrots could be improved without negatively influencing their sensory quality and nutrient content.

Evaluation of the use of decontamination agents during fresh-cut leek processing and quantification of their effect on its total quality by means of a multidisciplinary approach

“…The equipment to perform treatments with gaseous chlorine dioxide was described earlier (Vandekinderen et al, 2008). The gaseous chlorine dioxide treatment system contained a pump (N.811 KN18, KNF Neuberger, Freiburg, Germany), a purging bottle (1 L), a flow meter (A6100, ABB, Zurich, Switzerland), a treatment chamber and a sampling device, all of them joined with silicon tubing.…”

Inactivation of Murine Norovirus 1, Coliphage φX174, and Bacillus fragilis Phage B40-8 on Surfaces and Fresh-Cut Iceberg Lettuce by Hydrogen Peroxide and UV Light

“…As a positive control, the inoculated disc received 100 l of hard water instead of a hydrogen peroxide solution. For V-H 2 O 2 and UV treatment, inoculated discs were transferred in the middle of the drum of a prototype apparatus (ABT Belgium in cooperation with DDR systems, Voorde-Ninove, Belgium) with principle similar to that described by Vandekinderen et al (38) and received treatment of 5 min without tumbling. The H 2 O 2 (2.52%) was vaporized by a spray device (Nocospray, 230V; Airel, France), while UV irradiation was done with three low-pressure mercury lamps (TUVN4 4K P 165 lamp, 4 W each; UV-Technik Speziallampen GmbH, Wolfsberg OT Wümbach, Germany) producing mainly 254-nm UV light.…”

Potential of Electrolyzed Water as an Alternative Disinfectant Agent in the Fresh-Cut Industry

“…The results demonstrated an irrelevant effect. For example, total phenols and antioxidant capacity were not affected after washing fresh-cut carrots and lettuce with electrochemical disinfection and NaOCl containing 4, 20, and 30 mg/L of FC in process water (Vandekinderen et al 2008(Vandekinderen et al , 2009a. Washing fresh-cut pineapple in acidic EW for 2 min followed by 2 % NaCl for 1 min did not cause any detrimental effect on vitamin C content (Raiputta et al 2013).…”