• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.81-90
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• 2012

This study is to research the use and the demand of the elderly generation that pursue economic ability and active lifestyle. The composition of the meals were "homemade meals" 65.3%, "homemade & convenience meals" 26.7% overall. For the "never miss a meal" category, 70-74 years old was 48.3%, over 80 years old was 60.0%. The elderly under 70 years old showed a high frequency in the use of alternative meals (p < 0.05) and the elderly with higher education used the alternative meals more frequently (p < 0.01). The rice-cakes, bread, tuna cans, Korean side-dishes, beverages, meat, cup-noodles and seafood as alternative meals are in the order of most frequency. Also, 96.0%, 59.0% and 46.5% of the elderly had experience in using "Ready to eat (RTE)", "Ready to heat (RTH)" and "Ready to cook (RTC)". The oldest group surveyed, the elderly at the age of 80 years old and above showed lower preference for "completely cooked state" but showed highest results in the "half-cooked state". This shows the difference between people's perception and the behavior that showed high frequency of 96.0% in the experience with "RTE". This can be inferred that the elderly needs the development of convenience food that is moderately packaged according to the newer lifestyle where the elderly live independent from their children. Moreover, there is a higher demand in the healthy convenience food, which means that there is a need for development in the quality of the convenience food that will allow more faith in convenience food by the elderly.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.152-157
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• 2006

Enterobacter sakazakii, designated as an unique microbial species in 1980, may cause bacteremia, necrotizing enterocolitis and infant meningitis. The distribution and the thermostability of E. sakazakii in unprocessed ready-to-eat (RTE) agricultural products of 252 and in 25 powdered infant formulas (PIF) were analyzed. Eighty one, 50, 43, and 47% of brown rice, pumpkin, potato, and carrot samples, respectively, had aerobic plate counts (ARC) in the range of 5 log CFU/g or more. Almost all the other products sampled had APC of approximately 2 log CFU/g. Fifty three, 75, 67, and 68% of banana, pumpkin, soybean, and carrot had Enterobacteriaceae counts approximating 3 log CFU/g. Sixty six percent of the brown rice tested had Enterobacteriaceae counts approximating 5-6 log CFU/g. E. sakazakii was isolated from 3/25(12%), 4/23(17%), 1/24(4%), and 1/27(4%) of PIF, brown rice, laver, and tomato samples, respectively. D-values were 3.52-4.79 min at 60 and $D_{60}-values$ were similar as the isolates reported. Thermal inactivation of four thermovariant E. sakazakii strains during the rehydration of PIF with hot water were investigated. At $50^{\circ}C$, the levels of E. sakazakii decreased one log CFU/g for 4-6 min and thereafter the levels remained stable for 20 min. At $60^{\circ}C$, inactivation by about 2 log CFU/g occurred for 20 min. Therefore, the unprocessed agricultural products might be a source of contamination for PIF when used as an ingredient after drying and pulverization. Rehydration of PIF for infant feeding with a water temperature of $60^{\circ}C$ rather than $50^{\circ}C$, as recommended by the manufacturers, may be helpful in the reduction of potential E. sakazakii risk.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.494-501
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• 2015

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of pre-cooking conditions on the quality characteristics of ready-to-eat (RTE) Samgyetang. Raw chickens were steamed under the different conditions of 50℃/30 min (T1), 65℃/30 min (T2), 85℃/30 min (T3), and 90℃/10 min (T4) prior to retorting at 120℃ for 65 min. The results showed that pre-cooking conditions in all treated samples could reduce fat contents in breast and leg meats by 8.5-11.7％ and 10.0-11.0％ compared to the control, even though there were no significant differences among treatments (p>0.05). The L* and b* values of breast and leg meats treated with the higher temperature and longer time conditions were significantly higher than the control (p<0.05), while a* values tended to decrease despite of not to a significant extent (p>0.05). Moreover, apparent viscosity and water soluble protein showed insignificant differences (p>0.05) among the samples as a result of the retorting process, which might have more negative influences on the quality. T2 samples obtained significantly the highest average Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) score and transmittance value, representing the most clear broth among the samples, compared to the control. On the other hand, T3 showed the highest cooking loss among the treatments and the lowest QDA scores among the samples. In conclusion, pre-cooking treatment prior to retorting in manufacturing Samgyetang is a plausible way to reduce its fat content. A pre-cooking condition at either 65℃ for 30 min, or 90℃ for 10 min are recommended for producing Samgyetang with optimum quality.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.63-69
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• 2015

The aim of this study was to investigate the deformation of packaging materials used for ready-to-eat (RTE) foods after the retort process and microwave heating. From the multilayer films consisting of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyamide (PA), and cast polypropylene (CPP) in a stand-up pouch form used for RTE foods, some deformation of the CPP layer, which was in direct contact with the food, was observed after the retort process and microwave heating. The damage was more severely caused by microwave heating than by the retort process. This may be attributed to diverse factors including the non-uniform heating in a microwave oven, the sorption of oil into the packaging film, and the different characteristics of food components such as viscosity, salt and water content. The development of heat-resistant packaging materials and systems suitable for microwave heating of RTE foods is required for the safety of consumers.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.87-96
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• 2022

Recently, the purchase of fresh-cut produce and meal kits has increased. Ready-to-eat (RTE) fresh-cut products have potentially hazard of cross-contamination of various microorganisms in the processes of peeling, slicing, dicing, and shredding. There are frequent cases of protozoa food poisoning, such as Cyclospora and Cryptosporidium, caused by fresh-cut products. The objective of the study is to investigate the microbiological qualities of various types of RTE fresh-cut products in the domestic on/offline markets. RTE fresh-cut fruits cup (n=100), fresh-cut vegetables (n=50), and vegetables in meal kits (Vietnamese spring rolls and white radish rolls kits, n=50) were seasonally analyzed. The contamination levels of hygienic indicator organisms, yeast and mold (YM), and foodborne pathogens (Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., and Escherichia coli O157:H7) were monitored. Overall, the lowest microbiological qualities of meal kits vegetables were observed, followed by RTE fresh-cut fruits cup and fresh-cut vegetables. Contamination levels of total aerobic bacteria, coliforms, and YM in meal kits vegetables were 5.91, 3.90, and 4.71 logs CFU/g, respectively. From the qualitative analysis, 6 out of 200 RTE fresh-cut products (3%) returned positive result for S. aureus. From the quantitative analysis, the contamination levels of S. aureus in purple cabbage from a meal-kit and fresh-cut pineapple were below the acceptable limit (100 CFU/g). Staphylococcus enterotoxin seg and sei genes were detected in RTE fresh-cut celery and red cabbage from meal-kits, respectively. S. aureus contamination must be carefully controlled during the manufacturing processes of RTE fresh-cut products. Neither Cyclospora cayetanensis nor Cryptosporidium parvum was detected in the samples of RTE fresh-cut products and vegetables from meal-kits from the Korean retail markets.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 2011

The growth profile of Bacillus cereus in ready-to-eat (RTE) food products of animal origin was examined under different temperature and incubation conditions. In sandwiches and Kimbab, B. cereus did not grow or exhibited only minimal growth at 4 and $10^{\circ}C$, but it grew rapidly at ambient temperature. In sandwiches, B. cereus did not grow efficiently at $25^{\circ}C$, however, in ham, the main ingredient of sandwiches, B. cereus growth was observed at the same temperature, with bacterial levels reaching 7.94 Log CFU/g after incubation for 24 h at $25^{\circ}C$. Toxigenicity of B. cereus was observed only at temperatures above $25^{\circ}C$. In Kimbab, B. cereus produced toxin after 9 h at $30^{\circ}C$ and after 12 h at $25^{\circ}C$. Ingredients of sandwiches and Kimbab were collected from 3 different Korean food-processing companies to investigate the source of contamination by B. cereus. Among the 13 tested food items, 6 items including ham were found to be contaminated with B. cereus. Of these ingredients, B. cereus isolates from 3 items produced enterotoxins. None of these isolates harbored the emetic toxin-producing gene. The findings of the present study can be used for risk assessments of food products, including ham and cheese, contaminated with B. cereus.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.348-354
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• 2017

Internationally different food safety regulation and standards could cause troubles in trade unless those are built on scientific knowledge. In this research, we monitored the microbial population and analyzed the results to determine the level of microbial contamination in foodstuffs using relatively new statistical analysis (microbiological sampling plan, International Commission on Microbiological Specification for Foods). The goal of this research falls on establishing entirely new standards for various food categories addressed in the Korean "Food Code". Targets for monitoring were indicator organisms (i.e. total aerobic count, coliform and Escherichia coli) and foodborne pathogens (i.e. Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium perfringens) in ready-to-eat (RTE) products. As the result of the monitoring, total aerobic count, coliform, E. coli, and B. cereus in RTE products were found at the mean values of 2.10 log CFU/g, -0.60 log CFU/g, -1.33 log CFU/g and -1.23 log CFU/g, respectively. S. aureus was detected with the level of -1.35 log CFU/g only in fresh-cut food, while C. perfringens was -1.37 log CFU/g only in ready-to-cook food. Other samples did not have any food borne pathogens. Total aerobic count, B. cereus, S. aureus and C. perfringens satisfied the Food Code (the MFDS). On the basis of the analysis, we proposed a draft of microbial criteria for RTE products.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.39-44
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• 2011

This study was carried out to examine microbiological contamination of ready-to-eat products and to propose a draft-standard and specifications according to food types. RTE foods were classified into 6 groups including fish products, meat products, breads, rices, salads, and fresh cut foods. The prevalence rates of pathogens detected from all samples were compared among food categories. The pH ranges for all RTE samples were between 3.8 and 7.3. Total aerobic cell counts ranged from 2 to 6 log CFU/g. Bread, rice and fresh-cut foods showed significantly higher counts, which ranged above 4.0 log CFU/g among the samples. Two kinds of rice were above the level of the KFDA Food Code standard for Eschrichia coli. The prevalence rate of E. coli in the rice was 6.7%. For Staphylococcus aureus, one fish product and one bread-product had levels above 2 log CFU/g. Bacillus cereus counts for all samples were below the level of 3 log CFU/g. Listeria monocytogenes was not detected in the samples. Therefore, these data suggest that the primary microbial hazard factors for ready-to-eat foods and risk assessments should focus on E. coli, S. aureus, and B. cereus.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate the need to develop foods for the elderly based on their food preferences. A one-to-one survey method was used for data collection, and the survey was conducted on 165 elderly people (male: 47, female: 118) attending senior welfare centers in Seoul. The results of this study show that the preferred cooking method was steaming rather than stir-frying. Vegetables (4.24), fruits (4.22), Kimchi (3.87), fish (3.83), tofu (3.81), rice-cakes (3.65), dairy products/eggs (3.47), meat (3.45), noodles (3.44), seafood (3.44), poultry (3.23), bread/cookies (3.10) showed high preferences in order (p<0.05). The respondent's chewing & swallowing degree were "Not uncomfortable chew" 31.5%, "Hard food, and a big food is a little difficult to intake". 37%, "Hard food, and a big food is difficult to intake" 11.5%, "Small food, and soft foods can intake" 11.5%, and "It is difficult to intake solid food" 1.2%. Foods that were difficult to chew were meat 28.3%, seafood 15.2%, vegetables 15.2%, nuts 14.1%, fruits 12.0%, Kimchi 8.7%, and other 6.5%. For respondents, the most important factors affecting choice of elderly foods were flavor (48.5%), hygiene (43.0%), and nutrition (36.4%). The elderly wanted "Ready to eat (RTE)" 53.9%, "Ready to heat (RTH)" 15.8%, "Ready to cook (RTC)" 21.2%, and 'Fresh cut product" 9.1%.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.165-170
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• 2010

Although the demand of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods such as Kimbab is growing, large quantities and wide distribution of these foods is difficult due to their short shelf-life, exposed packaging with hygienic risk, and decreased quality at refrigerator temperatures. This study was undertaken to develop preservation and storage methods to extend the shelf-life of RTE rice products using microwave and packaging methods such as vacuum and modified atmosphere packages. RTE rice ball samples inoculated with Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus or Bacillus cereus were microwave treated for 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 seconds. Populations of pathogens on the rice balls were significantly reduced with an increase in treatment time. There were more than 5 log reductions of all pathogens when the samples were microwave treated for 60 seconds. RTE rice balls inoculated with two pathogens (S. aureus and B. cereus) were packaged via air, vacuum, $N_2$ gas, and $CO_2$ gas following microwave treatment for 90 seconds. The initial S. aureus and B. cereus concentration before treatment was 7.60 and 6.59 log CFU/g, and these levels were reduced by 3.37 and 2.18 log CFU/g after microwave treatment. The levels of pathogens were significantly increased during storage time at room temperature. $CO_2$ packaging was the most effective at inhibiting microbial growth among the tested packaging methods. The levels of total mesophilic count, S. aureus and B. cereus after 5 days of storage were 7.7, 8.8 and 9.3 log CFU/g in air packaged samples and 2.4, 3.2 and 8.3 log CFU/g in $CO_2$ gas packaged samples, respectively. However, after 3 days of storage higher levels of B. cereus were observed in all samples, indicating that the samples were not safe to be consumed. Base on these results, microwave treatment and MAP packaging methods using $CO_2$ gas could be used as a potential method for extending the shelf-life of RTE foods.