The preservative effects of garlic and ginger was compared with that of
sodium benzoate in assessing the shelf quality of locally prepared
soursop juice. The soursop juice without treatment (T1) was used as the
control while others in four replicates were separately treated with 50
mg/ml garlic (T2), 50 mg/ml ginger (T3), mixture garlic and ginger in
equal proportion of 50 mg/ml each (T4) and 10 mg/ml (T5) sodium
benzoate respectively. The microbial counts ranged from
3.0×104-1.27×106 cfu/ml juices with the untreated recording
the highest concentration of contamination compared with the treated
juices of which sodium benzoate had the least microbial contamination.
The microorganisms consistent in all the treatments were Bacillus
sp., Staphylococcus sp., Acetobacter sp., Klebsiella sp.,
Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida tropicalis while the
distribution of Streptococcus sp., Klebsiella and Penicillium sp.,
and Proteus sp were sporadic. Marginal decreases in pH values were
observed in the stored soursop juices across treatments. The results
obtained showed that the treatment of freshly prepared soursop juices
with sodium benzoate, and a mixture of garlic and ginger improved
storage span and reduced health risks of infection and/or intoxication
from their consumption