Effects of high pressure processing (HPP) on microorganisms and the quality of mango smoothies during storage

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of high pressure processing (HPP) on the quality of mango smoothies and the inactivation of microorganisms therein, with heat treatments used as the control. Comparative analysis was conducted on the microbiological changes in the mango smoothies subjected to HPP at 400–600 MPa for 0–15 min. The total plate count (TPC) and the yeast and mold (YM) counts were found to be significantly inactivated through increases in the pressure and treatment time (p < 0.05). Conditions of 90 °C/20 min (HT), 500 MPa/8 min (HPP-500) and 600 MPa/5 min (HPP-600) were, thus, selected as the subsequent treatment for a storage study at 4 °C for 15 days, since these conditions had similar inactivation effects on TPC and YM. After 15 days of storage, the TPC was found to have increased by 3.87, 3.54 and 3.36 log₁₀ cycles in the mango smoothies treated by HT, HPP-500 and HPP-600, respectively, while the YM counts remained at less than 1 log₁₀ cycle in all samples. During storage, compared to the HT and HPP-600 samples, both the color and viscosity at 100 s⁻¹ of samples treated by HPP-500 were found to be better maintained. Carotene content was better retained in storage after the HPP process than after the HT process. However, the different treatments had no effect on the pH nor on the total soluble solids (TSS) in the samples. The study ascertained that HPP-500 is able to ensure both the microbial safety and the quality of mango smoothies more effectively than HT and HPP-600.