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- Author or Editor: Gilbert F. Simmons x
- HortScience x
Refrigerated fresh-cut fruit and vegetables are the most rapidly expanding area in produce sales. Shelf life for minimally processed produce depends on natural product senescence or spoilage organism decay. Shelf life limits, near-aseptic cutting facilities, refrigerated transportation, and refrigerated storage make it possible to ship precut cantaloupe coast to coast on a year-round basis. Thorough cantaloupe surface disinfection reduces potential spoilage organisms and harmful pathogens. We compared using vapor hydrogen peroxide and sulfur dioxide to the current practice of hypochlorite (HOCL) washing to reduce cantaloupe microbial load. After treatment, cantaloupe were stored in unsealed polyethylene bags at 2.2°C for 4 weeks. The HOCL treated fruit were scrubbed and soaked for 5 minutes in a commercial HOCL solution. After 4 weeks, the HOCL washed fruit had reduced visible molds compared to controls. Cantaloupes fumigated for 60 minutes with 5000 or 10,000 ppm sulfur dioxide developed sunken lesions but no significant decay after 4 weeks storage. Cantaloupes, treated 60 minutes with 3 mg·L–1 volume vapor hydrogen peroxide, did not show injury or significant decay after 4 weeks storage. Sulfur dioxide and vapor hydrogen peroxide show promise as alternatives to HOCL.
A new vapor phase hydrogen peroxide (VPHP) technology that uses relatively dry hydrogen peroxide pulses is a promising method for the disinfection of surface-borne bacteria, yeasts, and molds on walnut nutmeats. The number of colony forming units per gram (cfu/g) on untreated nutmeats was compared to those VPHP treated. Three culture media; dichloran rose bengal chloramphenicol agar base (DRBC, Oxoid), aerobic plate count agar (APC, Oxoid), and potato dextrose agar (PDA, Sigma), were utilized to evaluate cfu/g. Similar numbers of cfu/g of product were observed on APC and PDA. The more selective DRBC had lower cfu/g. Microorganisms washed from untreated walnut nutmeats purchased at retail outlets ranged between 17,000-29,000 cfu/g depending upon the culture medium used. The number of cfu/lg on nutmeats after VPHP treatments was reduced to 500-1400, a 95% reduction. VPHP may offer an alternative to propylene oxide fumigation. The moisture content of nutmeats was not significantly altered by VPHP. The Food and Drug Administration lists hydrogen peroxide as a “generally recognized as safe substance” (GRAS). Hydrogen peroxide is already produced in a food grade for aseptic packaging.