Decontamination of fresh-cut cucumber slices by a combination of a modified chitosan coating containing carvacrol nanoemulsions and pulsed light

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Tarih

2017

Dergi Başlığı

Dergi ISSN

Cilt Başlığı

Yayıncı

Elsevier

Erişim Hakkı

info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess

Özet

In this study, the impact of the combination of pulsed light (PL) treatments with antimicrobial coatings, consisting of modified chitosan suspensions incorporating carvacrol nanoemulsions, was investigated on the decontamination of fresh-cut cucumber slices. The upper surface of the cucumber slices, with or without the coating deposition, was inoculated with Escherichia coil ATCC 26 to reach a final concentration of 10(7) CFU/g of the vegetable. PL treatments were conducted at different fluence (4, 8, and 12 J/cm(2)) on the inoculated surface of cucumber slices. Results showed that the microbial reduction was only marginally affected by the coating formulation. A slight increase was observed when the carvacrol nanoemulsions were embedded in the chitosan matrix, but microbial reduction levels remained always below 1 log cycle. In contrast, the different PL treatments resulted in a statistically significant increase in inactivation with increasing the treatment fluence, reaching 2.6 log cycles at the maximum fluence. Remarkably, the combination of the antimicrobial coating with the most intense PL treatments resulted in a strong synergistic effect. For example, by combining a PL treatment at 12 J/cm(2) with one of the antimicrobial coatings a microbial reduction > 5 log cycles was reached. Therefore, it can be concluded that the combination of antimicrobial coatings and PL treatment is a promising method for surface decontamination of fresh-cut vegetables, which could be exploited in view of ensuring their microbiological safety.

Açıklama

Anahtar Kelimeler

Antimicrobial coating, Carvacrol nanoemulsion, Pulsed light, Microbial decontamination, Combined treatments

Kaynak

International Journal of Food Microbiology

WoS Q Değeri

Q1

Scopus Q Değeri

Q1

Cilt

260

Sayı

Künye