Abstract:
The present study was focused on the investigation of the effect of chitosan on the growth and thermal inactivation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in pineapple juice. Chitosan solution was prepared in malic acid before adding to the pineapple juice. As malic acid possesses a mild antimicrobial property, the single effect of this acid on the yeast was also determined. Therefore, three types of medium were used in this study, i.e. pineapple juice (PNP), pineapple juice with 0.3 percent (v/v) malic acid (PNPM) and pineapple juice with 0.3 percent (v/v) malic acid and 2 g / L chitosan (PNPCM). The highest growth rate was found for S. cerevisiae grown in PNPM and no inhibitory effect of chitosan was observed at 25OC for up to 72 h. However, the effects of two preservatives, i.e. malic acid and chitosan, were more pronounced on the heat resistance of this organism at 55OC. Times taken to obtain 5-log reduction for S. cerevisiae in PNPM and PNPCM were similar and exhibited 2.5-fold less than that for the growth in the juice with no preservatives (PNP). The further investigation was conducted on the resuscitation of S. cerevisiae after heat treatment. The longer lag time (? = 15.65 h) and slower growth rate (?max = 0.52 h-1) were found for S. cerevisiae grown in PNPCM when compared with the growth of this yeast in PNPM (? = 11.28 h, ?max = 0.86 h-1). The results suggested that chitosan caused more seriousheat injury to the yeast cells which hence resulted in the longer repairing time. It was concluded from the study that there is a potential of using chitosan, a natural preservative, in combination with mild heat treatment to extend the shelf life of pineapple juice products.