Recently, the attention paid both by consumers and the legislative body towards sustainability of food processing has increased. One of the key phases for ready-to-eat vegetables is the sanitization process by washing with chemicals e.g. chlorinated compounds, which are recognised to be effective against pathogens and spoilage microbiota, but potentially harmful to the consumers and their ecosystem. Also, decontamination of wash waters is generally achieved through chemicals including hypochlorite. Possible alternatives must be considered based on cost-effectiveness, sustainability and possible side effects on product characteristics. Non-thermal treatments based on cold plasma technology, e.g. Plasma Activated Water (PAW), are an emerging alternative. In this study, the decontamination ability of PAW on indigenous microbiota and target pathogens of rocket leaves and wash waters was tested. Processing of wash water targeted Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, Listeria monocytogenes. Decontamination of rocket samples was performed by dipping into PAW under stirring for different times (0, 10, 20, 30 minutes) followed by spin drying. Vegetable samples were analysed immediately after treatments and storage at 4 °C. Differences in sensitiveness were detected in relation to the pathogenic species and the organic load of wash waters. 20 and 30 minutes presented the highest decontamination effects on rocket leaves, with reductions of ~2 Log CFU/g for Enterobacteriaceae and 1.7 Log CFU/g for psychrophilic and mesophilic bacteria. Such treatments also reduced their growth during storage resulting in cell counts 1 Log lower than the control vegetable. PAW treatments showed efficacy in reducing the main indigenous microbiota without affecting the visual quality of the product. This work was carried out in the framework of the CO-FRESH project which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon2020 research and Innovation programme (GA 101000852).
Ghirardelli E., C.B. (2023). Plasma Activated Water to improve safety and sustainability of leafy vegetables production..
Plasma Activated Water to improve safety and sustainability of leafy vegetables production.
Ghirardelli E.;Cellini B.;Gebremical G. G.;Romani S.;Lanciotti R.;Vannini L.
2023
Abstract
Recently, the attention paid both by consumers and the legislative body towards sustainability of food processing has increased. One of the key phases for ready-to-eat vegetables is the sanitization process by washing with chemicals e.g. chlorinated compounds, which are recognised to be effective against pathogens and spoilage microbiota, but potentially harmful to the consumers and their ecosystem. Also, decontamination of wash waters is generally achieved through chemicals including hypochlorite. Possible alternatives must be considered based on cost-effectiveness, sustainability and possible side effects on product characteristics. Non-thermal treatments based on cold plasma technology, e.g. Plasma Activated Water (PAW), are an emerging alternative. In this study, the decontamination ability of PAW on indigenous microbiota and target pathogens of rocket leaves and wash waters was tested. Processing of wash water targeted Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, Listeria monocytogenes. Decontamination of rocket samples was performed by dipping into PAW under stirring for different times (0, 10, 20, 30 minutes) followed by spin drying. Vegetable samples were analysed immediately after treatments and storage at 4 °C. Differences in sensitiveness were detected in relation to the pathogenic species and the organic load of wash waters. 20 and 30 minutes presented the highest decontamination effects on rocket leaves, with reductions of ~2 Log CFU/g for Enterobacteriaceae and 1.7 Log CFU/g for psychrophilic and mesophilic bacteria. Such treatments also reduced their growth during storage resulting in cell counts 1 Log lower than the control vegetable. PAW treatments showed efficacy in reducing the main indigenous microbiota without affecting the visual quality of the product. This work was carried out in the framework of the CO-FRESH project which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon2020 research and Innovation programme (GA 101000852).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
