• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.330-337
• /
• 2008

Betarich carrots were washed at various hypochloric acid(HCA) concentration and steeping time and packed in PE bag keeping at $8^{\circ}C$ for 12 days, in order eventually to examine microbiology, firmness, surface color, whiteness index(WI) and sensory quality. It was found that total bacterial counts at T-II and T-III with the 3 minute steeping were $4.37{\pm}0.19\;\log\;CFU/g$ and $4.27{\pm}0.13\;\log\;CFU/g$ respectively, showing slight decrease compared to control condition. E. coli was not detected at all treatments but less coliforms were detected at the 8-day treatments of T-II and T-III. Treatment of 3-minute steeping showed smaller reduction in firmness than that of I-minute steeping at 12-days, and T-1 (T-3) had the largest (smallest) reduction among them. It was also found that during the treatment the L-value showed decreasing trend, but the parameter a- and b-value showed increasing trend. WI increased, and its change was small with the increase in HCA concentration. The sensory quality check after 8 day storage showed that evaluation of the off-flavor appeared to be significantly high (p<0.05) at both non-treatment and HCA treatment. On the basis of the results above, it is likely to be more effective to prolong the period of circulation of beta rich carrots if you use HCA over 50 ppm for washing betarich carrots. This study will contribute to improve safety and quality in circulation of beta rich carrots.