Alternative sanitation techniques applied to minimally fresh industrially processed cherry and plum salad

摘要

A comparative study on different sanitation methods on the quality decay of fresh industrially processed cherry ('Ambrunes') and plum ('Suplum eleven') salad is presented. The fruit was processed in a clean room, under usual and controlled conditionsin a fresh cut industrial plant, using the following steps: reception, cutting, washing, draining and packaging. Processed salad was packaged in thermally sealed polypropylene basket using passive modified atmosphere packaging. During a storage period of10 days at 4°C, quality attributes (total soluble solids, pH and colour), functional content (total phenols, antioxidant activity and anthocyanin pigments) and microbial counts analysis were performed. It was concluded that the combined use of UV-C radiation and 10.0 g L1 ascorbic acid was effective in reducing the microbial counts, maintaining the antioxidant compounds and the sensorial quality of the product during storage. This treatment could be a good sanitizer and an alternative technique for minimizing water consumption in the food industry.