Biopreservation of Vegetable Foods

Abstract

Fresh produce products can become contaminated with human pathogenic bacteria from different sources (such as manure, irrigation water, insects, and during harvesting and other process operations), and have been implicated in a number of outbreaks (Lynch et al. 2009). Several bacteriocin preparations (such as nisin, pediocin, or enterocin AS-48) have been assayed for inactivation of foodborne pathogenic or toxinogenic bacteria (such as Listeria monocytogenes, Bacillus cereus, and Bacillus weihenstephanensis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella and other enterobacteria) on the surfaces of fresh-cut vegetables and on sprouted seeds (Galvez et al. 2008; Randazzo et al. 2009a, b; Abriouel et al. 2010) (Table 8.1). Bacteriocin treatments have also been proposed for decontamination of whole fruit surfaces, and to avoid transmission of pathogenic bacteria from fruit surfaces to processed fruits (Ukuku et al. 2005; Silveira et al. 2008), and to decrease bacterial survival of bacteria on sliced fruit surfaces during storage.