Effectiveness of lactate-containing processing aids application in vegetable treatment
Common characteristic of salad products is presence of cut raw vegetables in its composition. Cold cutting helps surface microorganisms penetrate into deep layers of the product. Hygienic cleanliness of raw ingredients is the major factor which contributes to storage stability of salad products. One of the most effective methods that helps enhance salad storage stability is initial treatment of vegetable raw materials with antimicrobial solutions. The author presents information on using solutions of hydrogen peroxide and peroxyacetic acid, sodium hypochlorite and compositions containing peroxide compounds and acetic, benzoic, sorbic, ascorbic, citric, lactic and other acids as well as their salts and containing guanidylic compounds. The article reveals that antimicrobial action of lactate-containing processing aids improves sufficiently if polymer cation-active compounds are introduced into their composition. The goal of the research is to study application effectiveness of new processing aids for treatment of raw peeled cut vegetables to reduce bacterial content and enhance storage stability before thermal treatment (boiling). The author tested the aids based on lactate-containing components. Physicochemical and physical parameters of the aids and their aqueous solutions are the following: active acidity (pH), titratab6le acidity, water and volatiles mass fraction, dynamic viscosity, surface tension. The article presents the data which characterize change in surface tension of aqueous solutions of the aids at the water-air interface depending on their concentration. It also gives quality indicators and microbial parameters of raw peeled cut vegetables after their processing with solutions of the aids. It was found out that treatment of raw peeled cut vegetables with processing aids based on lactate containing components prolongs their shelf life from 3 hours according to the applicable technology up to 48 hours.