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Critical points affecting the microbiological safety of bell peppers washed with peroxyacetic acid in a commercial packinghouse.
López-Gálvez, Francisco; Truchado, Pilar; Tudela, Juan A; Gil, Maria I; Allende, Ana.
Afiliación
  • López-Gálvez F; Research Group on Quality, Safety, and Bioactivity of Plant Foods, Department of Food Science and Technology, CEBAS-CSIC, Campus Universitario de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain. Electronic address: flopez@cebas.csic.es.
  • Truchado P; Research Group on Quality, Safety, and Bioactivity of Plant Foods, Department of Food Science and Technology, CEBAS-CSIC, Campus Universitario de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain.
  • Tudela JA; Research Group on Quality, Safety, and Bioactivity of Plant Foods, Department of Food Science and Technology, CEBAS-CSIC, Campus Universitario de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain.
  • Gil MI; Research Group on Quality, Safety, and Bioactivity of Plant Foods, Department of Food Science and Technology, CEBAS-CSIC, Campus Universitario de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain.
  • Allende A; Research Group on Quality, Safety, and Bioactivity of Plant Foods, Department of Food Science and Technology, CEBAS-CSIC, Campus Universitario de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain.
Food Microbiol ; 88: 103409, 2020 Jun.
Article en En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31997764
The washing stage from a bell pepper commercial packinghouse was assessed to study some of the critical control points related to bacterial cross-contamination. The washing line comprised two overhead spray bars applications: a pre-wash step without peroxyacetic acid (PAA), and a wash step with PAA. The physicochemical characteristics of the wash water and the bacterial quality and safety of the wash water and bell peppers (including aerobic mesophilic bacteria (AMB), Salmonella spp., and Shiga-toxigenic E. coli (STEC)) were studied. Additionally, the performance of commercial test methods (reflectometry, amperometric probe, chronoamperometric sensor) for measuring the residual concentration of PAA was examined. The bacterial load of the pre-wash water (8.7 ± 1.3 log cfu/100 mL AMB) was very high and thus peppers after the pre-wash showed a significantly higher bacterial load (4.9 ± 0.9 log cfu/g AMB) than the unwashed (3.8 ± 0.7 log cfu/g AMB) or the washed peppers (3.3 ± 0.8 log cfu/g AMB) (p < 0.05). However, no pathogenic bacteria were detected in bell pepper samples (n = 40), and only one water sample was confirmed positive for STEC (n = 64, 1.6% prevalence). The chronoamperometric sensor (PAASense) and the online amperometric probe showed similar results, while the reflectometry (Quantofix) significantly sub estimated (p < 0.05) PAA concentration. The results obtained highlight the need for interventions to improve hygiene in the washing line to ensure the microbiological quality and safety of bell peppers. The maintenance of optimal PAA concentrations in all the washing steps is critical for reducing the chance of water-mediated cross-contamination.
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Texto completo: 1 Bases de datos: MEDLINE Asunto principal: Ácido Peracético / Bacterias / Capsicum / Contaminación de Alimentos / Desinfectantes / Microbiología de Alimentos Tipo de estudio: Risk_factors_studies Idioma: En Revista: Food Microbiol Asunto de la revista: CIENCIAS DA NUTRICAO / MICROBIOLOGIA Año: 2020 Tipo del documento: Article

Texto completo: 1 Bases de datos: MEDLINE Asunto principal: Ácido Peracético / Bacterias / Capsicum / Contaminación de Alimentos / Desinfectantes / Microbiología de Alimentos Tipo de estudio: Risk_factors_studies Idioma: En Revista: Food Microbiol Asunto de la revista: CIENCIAS DA NUTRICAO / MICROBIOLOGIA Año: 2020 Tipo del documento: Article