Pulsed light decontamination of vegetables and fruits

Gianpiero Pataro a*, Giorgio Dons a,b, Giovanna Ferrari a,b

a

Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy (gpataro@unisa.it)

b
ProdAl scarl, Fisciano, Italy (info@prodalricerche.it)

INTRODUCTION
Pulsed light (PL) is an emerging technology which has considerable potential as an alternative
to thermal and chemical methods for rapid and effective inactivation of microorganisms on
food surfaces. The technique involves the use of intense short duration light pulses of a wide
broad spectrum light (100-1100 nm) [1]. A significant number of publications on the subject
have documented the ability of PL to inactivate microbial species spread on agar surfaces [2],
while only few publications are dealing with the PL decontamination of food products [3].
In this work the ability of PL treatments for surface decontamination of vegetables and fruits
by killing native microflora was investigated.
MATERIALS & METHODS
Samples of three varieties of tomatoes (Micron, BNC8015 and AA7033) and two varieties of
peaches (Lucia and Duceur) were exposed to PL treatments at different energy doses (35-250
J/cm2/side). PL flashes (3 pulses/s, pulse width 360 s, 0.39 J/cm2/pulse) were generated by
SteriPulse-XL 3000 Pulsed light Sterilization System (Xenon Corp., Wilmington, Mass.,
USA). The lethality of PL treatments was assessed by the total aerobic mesophilic count and
yeast and mould population.
RESULTS & DISCUSSION
The results reported in Table 1 show that the reduction of the native microflora is progressively
increased with increasing the energy incident on the surface of each product. However, no
complete inactivation was detected even when the higher energy dose was applied.
At fixed energy dose applied the effectiveness of the treatment depended on the PL sensitivity
of the microbial population living on the surface of each variety of product. The native
microflora present on the surface of tomatoes of the variety Micron highlighted the greater
sensitivity to light pulses followed by the one living on the surface of the tomatoes of the
variety BNC8015 and AA7033. Between the two variety of peaches tested microbial population
living on the surface of Lucia variety showed the higher sensitivity to light pulses.
Thermal damages were visible especially on the surface of the peaches when treatments of
higher energy dose were applied. Therefore, multi-step treatment in which each side of the
product was exposed several times to light pulses of low energy dose (31.4 J/cm2/side) per step
made it possible to achieve the same lethal effect along with the minimum thermal damage
(data not shown).

Table 1. Microbial counts of total plate counts and yeast and mould in fresh and PL treated
tomatoes and peaches.
Product Product Variety Energy dose* Aerobic mesophilic count Yeast and Mould
J/cm2/side
Log-CFU/mL
Log-CFU/mL
Tomato Micron
0
3.16
2.48
6
2.70
1.89
18
1.51
0.90
35
0.78
0.30
BNC8015
0
2.48
2.42
6
2.49
2.17
18
1.62
1.93
35
0.85
1.57
AA7033
0
2.00
2.54
6
1.95
2.50
18
1.95
2.45
35
1.00
1.36
Peaches Lucia
0
3,42
2,89
21
3,22
2,81
31
2,22
2,35
63
1,91
1,80
126
1,51
1,10
252
0,92
0,69
Duceur
0
3,98
3,22
21
3,68
3,01
31
2,88
2,55
63
2,23
2,44
126
1,59
1,39
252
0,82
0,69
* Two sides per fruit were considered

CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that PL treatment operated under optimal conditions may constitute an
effective method for the surface decontamination of fruit and vegetable products.
REFERENCES
[1] Krishnamurthy K., Tewari J.C., Irudayaraj J. & Demirci A. 2008. Microscopic and spectroscopic
evaluation of inactivation of Staphylococcus aureus by pulsed UV light and infrared heating. Food
and Bioprocess Technology. doi:10.1007/s11947-008-0084-8.
[2] Elmnasser N., Guillou S., Leroi F., Orange N., Bakhrouf A. & Federighi M. 2007. Pulsed-light system
as a novel food decontamination technology: A review. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 53, 813
821.
[3] Gmez-Lpez, V.M., Devlieghere, F., Bonduelle, V. & Debevere, J. 2005. Intense light pulses
decontamination of minimally processed vegetables and their shelf-life. International Journal of Food
Microbiology, 103, 79-89.