Keeping greens fresh: New study from BioControl project

Pre-washed, fresh-cut fruits and vegetables are a fast-growing market answering consumers’ demand for healthy and ready-to-use food products. A major concern with minimally-processed produce is their rapid microbial spoilage and the associated foodborne illnesses. The WFSC Research Programs project “Novel approach to biologically control spoilage of fresh vegetables using naturally produced reuterin” (BioControl) aims to establish the natural antimicrobial reuterin as a novel method to reduce bacterial load on fresh produce.

In a new study published in Frontiers in Microbiology, the team of researchers from ETH Zurich tested the effectiveness of reuterin to decontaminate and preserve fresh-cut lettuce. Fresh-cut lettuce was washed with reuterin solutions containing different acrolein concentrations (the active antimicrobial compound of reuterin) or chlorine and water. The washed lettuce was then packed and stored in a protective atmosphere. After seven days, lettuce washed with reuterin with high concentrations of acrolein (enhanced reuterin) had fewer enterobacteria, yeasts, and molds than the other samples. However, lettuce washed with enhanced reuterin looked more discolored than the other samples. Discoloration makes produce less appealing to consumers, causing food and economic losses.

Overall, the results proved that reuterin can be safely used in the food industry to control microbial loads in fresh produce. Shorter shelf-life due to discoloration, as observed in pre-cut lettuce, would be of less concern with other vegetables that are less sensitive to oxidative stresses, such as carrots, apples, beets, or radishes.

Read the entire article “Decontamination of minimally-processed fresh lettuce using reuterin produced by Lactobacillus reuteri” in Frontiers in Microbiology external page here