The change in microbiological profile and water activity due to the osmotic treatment of celery leaves and root

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate effects of osmotic treatment on microbiological profile and water activity (aw) in celery leaves and root, in order to indicate the usefulness of this drying technique. Samples of celery leaves and root were dehydrated in sugar beet molasses and aqueous solution of sodium chloride and sucrose, at three different temperatures. aw values of processed celery leaves and root were determined and the change of the microbiological profile between the dehydrated celery leaves and root was examined. The process of osmotic treatment improve the initial microbiological profile due to increasing dry matter content and lowering aw value of the all processed celery samples. Better microbiological load reduction was observed in samples of leaves compared with samples of roots. Measuring results were fitted to mathematical models using Response Surface Methodology and statistically evaluated using analysis of variance.

Keywords

• osmotic treatment
• celery leaves and root
• sugar beet molasses
• microbiological profile