Abstract

The microbial content of plant tissues has been reported to cause the spoilage of ca. 30% of chlorine-disinfectedfresh vegetables during cold storage. The aim of this work was to evaluate the efficacy of antimicrobial peptidesin controlling microbial vegetable spoilage under cold storage conditions. A total of 48 bacterial isolateswere collectedfrom ready-to-eat (RTE) vegetables and identified as belonging to Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Aeromonasmedia, Pseudomonas cichorii, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas jessenii, Pseudomonas koreensis, Pseudomonasputida, Pseudomonas simiae and Pseudomonas viridiflava species. Reddish or brownish pigmentation was foundwhen Pseudomonas strains were inoculated in wounds on leaves of Iceberg and Trocadero lettuce and escarolechicory throughout cold storage. Bovine lactoferrin (BLF) and its hydrolysates (LFHs) produced by pepsin, papainand rennin, were assayed in vitro against four Pseudomonas spp. strains selected for their heavy spoiling ability.As the pepsin-LFH showed the strongest antimicrobial effect, subsequent experiments were carried out using thepeptide lactoferricin B (LfcinB), well known to be responsible for its antimicrobial activity. LfcinB significantly reduced(P <= 0.05) spoilage by a mean of 36% caused by three out of four inoculated spoiler pseudomonads on RTElettuce leaves after six days of cold storage. The reduction in the extent of spoilage was unrelated to viable celldensity in the inoculated wounds. This is the first paper providing direct evidence regarding the application ofan antimicrobial peptide to control microbial spoilage affecting RTE leafy vegetables during cold storage.

Autore Pugliese

• Baruzzi Federico , Quintieri Laura , Caputo Leonardo , Calabrese Nicola

Tutti gli autori

• Baruzzi F. ; Pinto L.; Quintieri L.; Carito A.; Calabrese N.; Caputo L.

Titolo volume/Rivista

International journal of food microbiology

Anno di pubblicazione

2015

ISSN

0168-1605

ISBN

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Wos

Nessuna citazione

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

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Numero di citazioni Scopus

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Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

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Settori ERC

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Codici ASJC

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