Heated Scallop-Shell Powder Slurry Treatment of Shredded Cabbage

Abstract

The main component of scallop-shell powder is calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Through heat treatment, CaCO3 in the shell is converted to CaO, which exhibits antibacterial activity. The disinfecting effect of heated scallop-shell powder on shredded cabbage was investigated for various powder concentrations (0.1 to 1.0g dm−3) and treatment temperatures (10 to 40°C). Scallop-shell powder treatment was found to reduce the aerobic bacteria count in cabbage, with increasing effectiveness at higher powder concentrations and treatment temperatures. Coliforms were completely eliminated within 5 min with as little as 0.1g dm−3 powder treatment. During storage at 4°C, aerobic bacterial counts did not increase after powder treatment, whereas counts increased with water-washing or sodium hypochlorite treatment at 200 μg dm−3. The inactivation pattern of bacterial cells in shredded cabbage involved an accelerated decline followed by an extended tail at powder concentrations of 0.1 and 0.5g dm−3. We postulate that a fraction of bacterial cells in the initial population becomes tolerant to the shell powder. A proposed model accurately predicts the reducing bacterial counts on shredded cabbage by scallop-shell powder treatment. The decrease in the l-ascorbic acid content of shredded cabbage was approximately 20 to 30% for scallop-shell powder treatment at 0.1 and 0.5g dm−3 (20°C), which is almost identical to that by sodium hypochlorite treatment at 200 μg dm−3.