A flow cytometric approach to monitor the effects of gentle preservation techniques in the postharvest chain

Abstract

Microbial contamination of fruits and vegetables can lead to high economic losses as well as to foodborne diseases. Washing procedures, which are commonly applied, only reduce the microbial load by 0.5 to 2 log units. Conventional thermal inactivation processes cannot be applied to fresh fruit and vegetables because these products are physiologically active food systems and temperatures above 45 °C can result in unwanted deterioration. Since heat sensitivity of fruits and vegetables limits the application of thermal inactivation processes, new emerging inactivation technologies have to be established to fulfil the requirements of food safety without affecting the produce quality. On one hand an early detection of produce contamination is essential to enable a contamination-related process design and on the other hand the efficiency of inactivation treatments has to be ensured and monitored. Monitoring of inactivation effects is commonly performed using traditional cultivation methods which have the disadvantage of the length of time needed to obtain results.