Development of sodium chlorite and glucono delta-lactone incorporated PLA film for microbial inactivation on fresh tomato

This study focused on the development of a novel polylactic acid (PLA) film which incorporated with sodium chlorite (NaClO2) and GDL for ClO2(g) generation. The effects of PLA amount, NaClO2+GDL/PLA ratio, NaClO2/GDL ratio, temperature and relative humidity on the release profiles of ClO2(g) were elucidated. The storage test indicated that film efficacy was well maintained after 4 weeks of storage under ambient conditions. The microbial inactivation results revealed that ClO2(g) generated from the films reduced populations of surface-inoculated Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7 from ca. 5 log CFU/tomato to undetectable level (< 1 log CFU/tomato) within 2 and 4 hours respectively and the complete elimination in populations of both bacterial species was maintained throughout the 14-day storage period at both 10 and 22°C. The sensory properties of treated tomatoes were evaluated and exhibited no significant difference (p> 0.05) compared to controls except for appearance on day 14 under 22°C storage.Graphical abstract
Source: Food Research International - Category: Food Science Source Type: research