Modelling the growth of Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli O157 on lettuce

This study aimed to model the growth of Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157 on lettuce at different temperatures. Microorganisms were inoculated separately on lettuce and stored at 5, 10, 25, and 37°C. Growth curves were built by fitting the data to the Baranyi’s DMFit model and Ratkowsky equation was used as secondary model. The models were able to assess the growth of both microorganisms and data showed that bacteria did not growth for 24 hours at 10°C, what can be a suitable temperature for lettuce distribution on food services. However, prolonged periods demonstrated growth at every temperatures examined

Organic acid based sanitizers and free chlorine to improve the microbial quality and shelf-life of sugar snaps

A screening in a sugar snap packaging company showed a converged build-up of aerobic psychrotrophic plate count (APC) (ca. 6.5 log CFU/100 mL), yeasts and molds (Y&M), and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) (both ca. 4.5 log CFU/100 mL) in the wash water in the absence of water sanitizer, and a low build-up of chemical oxygen demand (30 ± 5 mg O 2 /L) and turbidity (5.2 ± 1.1 NTU). Decontamination experiments were performed in the lab with Purac FCC 80® (80% L(+) lactic acid), two other commercial water sanitizers based on organic acids (NATRApHASe-ABAV®, and NATRApHASe-FVS®) and chlorine to evaluate their performance in reduction of the sugar snap microbial load as well as their functionality as disinfectant of the wash water to avoid cross-contamination. An additional 1 log reduction of APC on the sugar snaps was achieved with lactic acid in the range 0.8 to 1.6%, ABAV 0.5%, and free chlorine 200 mg/L when compared to a water wash, while no significant difference in the numbers of Y&M was obtained when washing in sanitizer compared to water. There was no significant influence of the studied concentration and contact time on decontamination efficiency. Treatment with lactic acid 0.8% resulted in a lower APC contamination on the sugar snaps than on the untreated and water washed samples for 10 days. Chlorine 200 mg/L was the only treatment able to maintain the Y&M load lower than the untreated samples throughout the entire storage duration. The use of water sanitizers could not extend the sensorial shelflife. Microbial loads were not indicative/predictive of visual microbial spoilage (shelf-life limiting factor), whereas maturity and amount of damage at the calyx end of the pods were. The APC wash water contamination (5.2 log CFU/100 mL) was reduced significantly by chlorine 20 to 200 mg/L (to 1.4 log CFU/100 mL), ABAV 0.5 to 1.5% (to 2.7 log CFU/100 mL), FVS 0.5% (to 2.7 log CFU/100 mL) and lactic acid 0.8 to 1.6% (to 3.4 log CFU/100 mL). Only the use of chlorine enabled the reduction of the Y&M wash water contamination significantly (from 3.4 to 1.4 log CFU/100 mL). The low physicochemical build-up of the sugar snap wash water during the industrial washing process makes free chlorine attractive as a water disinfectant to prevent bacterial and fungal cross-contamination, whereas the sanitizers based on organic acids are not, due to their weak water disinfection efficiency