• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.23-29
• /
• 2008

The market sales of fresh-cut fruit and vegetables have grown rapidly in recent decades as a result of changes in consumer trend. Choosing the proper pretreatment of fruit and vegetables before minimally processing is very important because appearance is the most fundamental factors affecting the quality of fresh-cut products. This review describes the biochemical bases for color changes of fruit and vegetables including browning, discoloration, and color changes of carrots and alliums. Understanding pathway of pigments in minimally processed fruit and vegetable and preventing the way of color change should be emphasized for successive packaging system. This review also describes pretreatment of fresh-cut fruit and vegetables to improve the prolonging the shelf-life and maintenance of its qualities.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.1110-1116
• /
• 2003

The effects of packaging methods on the storage quality of minimally processed (prepeeled) onions were investigated to determine the optimal packing design. Various packaging treatments used for modifying headspace atmospheres included two passive MAP using LDPE and PP films, two active MAP using a gas mixture of 20% $O_2/10%\;CO_2/balance\;N_2$ and an ethylene scavenging sachet, and moderate vacuum packaging (MVP). The quality attributes of onion samples were evaluated periodically in terms of flesh weight loss, color of cut surface, decay ratio, microbial counts, and sensory properties during storage at $10^{\circ}C$ for 28 days. Packaging methods did not significantly influence surface color, weight loss, and microbiological populations of mesophiles, psychrotrophs, and lactic acid bacteria. They did, however, affect sensory characteristics as well as decay occurrence. Results indicated that seal-packaging with a gas-permeable plastic film under a mild vacuum condition could retain better onion quality in terms of microbial decay and visual sensory aspects as compared with the other packages.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.239-245
• /
• 2004

Storage quality of minimally processed onion as influenced by hot-water dipping was investigated to examine feasibility of mild heat treatment as efficient post-processing method. fresh onions were peeled, trimmed, and dipped in hot water at various temperatures ($50-80^{\circ}C$) for 1 min. Heat-treated onions were cooled, de-watered, packaged in low density polyethylene (LDPE) film pouches ($63\;{\mu}m\;thickness$), and stored at $10^{\circ}C$. Samples treated at higher temperatures ($70-80^{\circ}C$) showed significant increases in flesh weight loss and discoloration during storage as compared to others. Hot-water dipping remarkably reduced initial microbial load of prepeeled onions, with over 1 log cycle decrease in aerobic bacterial count. After 7 days storage, no significant differences in viable aerobe count were observed among treated and untreated samples, with both showing $10^{6}-10^{7}\;CFU/g$. For sensory attributes including discoloration, wilting, decay, and visual quality, onions treated with hot-water dipping at $60^{\circ}C$ scored highest. Results suggested hot-water dipping at specific condition as practical post-processing treatment could effectively prolong shelf life of minimally processed onion.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.67-71
• /
• 2017

This study examined the antimicrobial activity of flaxseed meal extract (FME) against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli O157:H7 inoculated on red mustard. With the treatment of 0.7% FME for 3 min, the reduction levels of S. aureus and E. coli O157:H7 populations were 1.23 and 1.83 log CFU/g, respectively. In addition, the combined treatment of 0.7% FME at $50^{\circ}C$ for 3 min reduced the populations of the pathogenic bacteria by 2.28 and 2.41 log CFU/g, respectively. The color and the vitamin C content were not significantly different between treatments. Thus, FME can be used as a novel antimicrobial agent in fresh-cut vegetables.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.515-519
• /
• 2004

Listeria spp. were isolated from a total of 402 naturally contaminated domestic ready-to-eat (RTE) vegetable samples by the conventional Food and Drug Administration protocol and confinned by API-Listeria kit. Also, the susceptibility to 12 antibiotics, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for virulence gene of pathogenic Listeria monocytogenes isolates, and in vitro virulence assay using myeloma and hybridoma cells from murine and human sources were tested. Among the samples, 17 samples (4.2％) were found to be contaminated with Listeria species. Among the 17 strains of Listeria spp. isolates, only 2 strains (11.8％) of L. monocytogenes and 15 strains (88.2％) of L. innocua were identified. Antibiotic susceptibility test showed that the Listeria spp. isolates were very susceptible to the antibiotics tested, except for nalidixic acid. Among 17 strains of Listeria spp., PCR analysis showed that 2 strains of L. monocytogenes isolates proved to have a virulence hly gene, but none of L. innocua had the hly gene. Also, hybridoma Ped-2E9 cells assay showed that only L. monocytogenes isolates killed approximately 95-99％ hybridoma cells after 6 h, but L. innocua isolates had about 0-5％ lethal effect. These results indicate that PCR assay with hly primer or hybridoma Ped-2E9 cells assay could be used as a good monitoring tool or in vitro virulence test for L. monocytogenes.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.114-119
• /
• 2011

In this study, two duplex real-time PCR approach with melting curve analysis is presented for the detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp. and Staphylococcus aureus, which are important food-borne bacterial pathogens usually present in fresh and/or minimally processed vegetables. Reaction conditions were adjusted for the simultaneous amplification and detection of specific fragments in the ${\beta}$-glucuronidase (uidA, E. coli), thermonuclease (nuc, S. aureus), hemolycin (hly, L. monocytogenes) and tetrathionate reductase (ttr, Salmonella spp.) genes. Melting curve analysis using a SYBR Green I real-time PCR approach showed characteristic $T_m$ values demonstrating the specific and efficient amplification of the four pathogens; $80.6{\pm}0.9^{\circ}C$, $86.9{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$, $80.4{\pm}0.6^{\circ}C$ and $88.1{\pm}0.11^{\circ}C$ for S. aureus, E. coli O157:H7, L. monocytogenes and Salmonella spp., respectively. For all the pathogens, the two duplex, real-time PCR was equally sensitive to uniplex real-time PCR, using same amounts of purified DNA, and allowed detection of 10 genome equivalents. When our established duplex real-time PCR assay was applied to artificially inoculated fresh lettuce, the detection limit was $10^3$ CFU/g for each of these pathogens without enrichment. The results from this study showed that the developed duplex real-time PCR with melting curve analysis is promising as a rapid and cost-effective test method for improving food safety.

• Food Science and Preservation
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.190-195
• /
• 2010

Pressure, used as a minimal processing technology in the food industry, is a valuable tool ensuring microbiologically safe, shelf-stable fruit and vegetable production. Pressure could be used to deliver a greater variety of minimally processed products, as demanded by today's consumers. Weevaluated the effect of <400 MPa pressure, applied during chilling, on fresh fruit purees (strawberry, kiwi, aloe, and pomegranate) and vegetable extracts (from carrot and spinach) during cold storage (<$10^{\circ}C$) for 15-20 days. Samples were prepared in a processing facility in which total plate counts of falling and floating bacteria were controlled at $1{\times}100-10^1$ CFU/plate and $1{\times}10^2-10^3$ $CFU/m^3$ under conditions of $21-25^{\circ}C$ and 55-60% relative humidity. The aerobic plate counts of raw materials were less than $1{\times}10^3$ CFU/g. Evaluation parameters included microbiological safety, vitamin content, and sensory qualities. Although the overall quality of non-treated samples deteriorated with storage time at $10^{\circ}C$, samples pressurized at 250-350 MPa at $5-7^{\circ}C$ for 10 min showed less change, with no significant difference in microbiological safety, vitamin content, or sensory quality. The use of pressure extended the shelf-life during storage at $10^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.1293-1300
• /
• 2001

We surveyed dietitians'perception on usage of cook/chill vegetables, The questionnaires were distributed to 245 dietitians working in elementary schools and other institutions in Busan area. According to the survey, 75.9% of the dietitians perceived that minimally processed ready -to-use vegetal)toes would be helpful for the institutional foodservice They answered that problems of vegetable usage in the foodservice mainly come from long preparation time (45.4%), a large quantity of leftover (13.1%), and a high ratio of disuse (16.0%). Degree of preparedness from raw vegetables was highest for garlic, and was in tile order of platicodcm, onions, carrots, Potatoes, Korean cabbage and radish.40.9% of the dietitians answered that it was necessary Ic develop cook/chill vegetables in their institute restaurants. The high career group ( >6 yrs.) was, however, significantly (p<0.05) negative against the use of cooHchill vegetables. The dietitians were expecting that developing cook/chill vegetables would save cooking time and processes (4.43/5.00), and reduce waste (4.53/5.00) greatly. They also estimated that focal hygiene and quality would be improved, and labor cast be reduced moderately. On the other hand, they thought that the cost of flood would not be reduced.