Expiration Date of Ready-to-Eat Salads: Effects on Microbial Load and Biochemical Attributes.

ABSTRACT: When minimally processed vegetables reach their expiration date, expose an increased microbial load. This includes mainly spoilage microorganisms but also foodborne pathogens, thus affecting the quality and safety of highly consumed ready-to-eat salads. A total of 144 ready-to-eat salads from the Cypriot market were analyzed in an attempt to determine the effects of the expiration date on the microbial load and plant metabolic variables of the salads. Possible correlations between them were also investigated for the first time. Furthermore, the impacts of the season (winter, summer), salad producing companies and type of salad and/or their interactions with the tested parameters were investigated. Results revealed that the microbial load (mainly spoilage microorganisms, such as Pseudomonas

SUBMITTER: Xylia P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8145991 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature