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Fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, also known as semi-processed fruits and vegetables or minimally processed fruits and vegetables (Minimally Processed Fruits and Vegetables), are an emerging food industry product.
Internationally, fresh-cut fruits and vegetables are defined as: fruits and vegetables are cleaned, peeled, cut (or sliced), trimmed, and packaged after harvesting, with the quality of fresh fruits and vegetables, providing consumers with fresh, safe and nutritious ready-to-eat fruit and vegetable products. .
During the processing of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, the tissue structure is damaged due to cutting, the original protection system is destroyed, the juice of fruits and vegetables overflows, and the large surface and rich nutrients provide favorable growth conditions for microorganisms; at the same time, most vegetables belong to Low-acid foods have also become an excellent medium for microbial growth. Therefore, if the disinfection process is not handled properly, it will easily lead to product spoilage, resulting in food safety accidents and losses.
Based on this, in 2021, the National Health and Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "National Food Safety Standard for Ready-to-eat Fresh-cut Fruits and Vegetables Processing Hygiene Specifications", which clearly stipulated the selection of raw materials and the disinfection process of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. To ensure the safety of fresh-cut food. Among them, it is clearly stipulated that the concentration, time and water temperature of the disinfectant should be reasonably set during disinfection; thorough rinsing must be carried out after disinfection to reduce the residue of disinfectant as much as possible.
At present, most central kitchens and fresh-cut fruit and vegetable processing enterprises use a higher concentration of NaClO solution for disinfection to effectively kill various microorganisms on the surface of fruits and vegetables in order to ensure that the disinfection effect is up to standard. In this process, due to the high concentration of NaClO solution used, it is easy to remain on the surface of fruits and vegetables, so it is necessary to rinse with a large amount of water to ensure that the residue of NaClO is eliminated as much as possible and avoid safety problems such as excessive residual chlorine. At the same time, once the concentration of NaClO solution is too high, it will adversely affect the flavor and taste of some foods; and when the concentration of sodium hypochlorite solution is very high, its pungent odor will also volatilize into the workshop during processing, causing harm to the health of employees . In addition, in the rinsing process, if the production water used is not sterile water, it is very likely to bring secondary pollution to fresh-cut fruits and vegetables.
In response to this series of problems, some experts proposed that the combination of sodium hypochlorite and slightly acidic electrolyzed water can be used to optimize the processing technology of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables and improve the safety of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. That is, during the disinfection process, the fruits and vegetables are first disinfected with a medium concentration sodium hypochlorite solution (100~200ppm), and then the low concentration slightly acidic electrolyzed water (30~50ppm) is used for secondary treatment after disinfection. Since the main component of slightly acidic electrolyzed water is HClO, under the condition of lower effective chlorine concentration, the bactericidal effect can still reach more than 80 times that of sodium hypochlorite, and it has no cytotoxicity to the human body, so it can be used for fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. secondary disinfection.
This process can not only ensure that on the basis of effective sterilization effect, reduce the demand for the concentration of sodium hypochlorite, reduce the risk of residual chlorine residue, and eliminate concerns about the quality of food materials and the health and safety of personnel; at the same time, the secondary treatment of slightly acidic electrolyzed water In the process, electrolyzed water can also replace sterile water to rinse the residual sodium hypochlorite, which can not only reduce the residual chlorine content in fruits and vegetables to the specified range, but also avoid secondary pollution of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, which is conducive to subsequent processing and production. Storage and transportation.
The study found that the use of sodium hypochlorite and slightly acidic electrolyzed water combined sterilization process to treat fresh fruits and vegetables, and matched them into pre-made salads for low-temperature storage, the storage and preservation period can reach more than 6 days; The decline rates of water content, texture and color were all delayed to a certain extent.
Therefore, it is recommended to introduce sodium hypochlorite and slightly acidic electrolyzed water into the disinfection process in sequence in the processing of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, which can not only effectively reduce the number of microorganisms and ensure the safety of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, but also reduce the amount of sodium hypochlorite and effectively control the quality of fruits and vegetables. , to avoid adverse effects on operator health and environmental protection during use.
