초록
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of various kinds of electrolyzed and chlorinated waters on the sensory and microbiological qualities of fresh-cut lettuce and to determine the most suitable electrolyzed water for the vegetable dishes, without heat treatment, at institutional foodservices. The sensory evaluation resulted in higher scores on the 1st-day of storage for the EW-1 (diaphragm type 1) and EW-3 (non-diaphragm type) compared to that for EW-2 (diaphragm type 2), with regard to their appearance, discoloration, texture, taste and overall acceptability characteristics. However, over time, EW-3 ranked highest, with a score of 8.00 (very like), on the 4th-day of storage, which maintained the highest level up to the 7th-day of storage, at which time the score was 7.00 (fairly like). The CW (chlorinated Water) had a significantly lower score, due to the smell of chlorine, although there was no concern with relation to chlorine residue from the electrolyzed waters. Microbial examinations of the total plate count revealed that immersing lettuce into EW-3 brought about l/3,000 to 1/30,000 reductions in the microbial counts of the TW treatment or untreated samples for up to seven days of storage. The CW treatment gave a 1/10 reduction in the microbial counts compared with the TW (tap water) treatment. The coliform bacterial counts also showed similar trends to those of the total plate count values. With regards to the psychotropic bacterial count, EW-3 was able to result in as much as a 1/30,000 reduction in the initial counts. As vegetable dishes, such as salad, can not be heat-sterilized, the utilization of EW-3 for the preparation of vegetable dishes without heat treatment will be an excellent choice to improve the critical control point in production state as a new effective means for sanitizing management.