100 Microbial Evaluation of Electrolyzed Water Treated Fresh-cut Carrots in CA/MA Storage

Abstract

The effect of electrolyzed water on bacterial count was evaluated on CA/MA stored carrot shreds. Electrolyzed water (pH 6.8) containing 50 ppm available chlorine, was generated by electrolysis of 2.5% NaCl solution using an electrolyzed neutral water generator, Ameni Clean (Matsushita Seiko, Osaka, Japan). Electrolyzed water treatment reduced counts of total bacteria and lactic acid bacteria on surface of carrot shreds by about 1 log CFU/g as compared to water-rinsed control. Microbial population increased on treated carrot shreds stored in air or 3% O2 atmosphere at 10 or 20 °C. The increasing count of lactic acid bacteria was less on electrolyzed water treated samples than on control samples during storage at 10 °C. Electrolyzed water did not affect respiration rate of carrot shreds during storage at 10 and 20 °C. For MA study, the treated carrot shreds were packaged and stored in a polymeric film in which the O2 and CO2 concentrations equilibrated to about 10% and 3% at 10 °C and about 6% and 7% at 20 °C, respectively. The lactic acid bacterial count on shreds in MAP was lower with electrolyzed water treated samples than water treated controls during storage at 10 and 20 °C.