Table 3. Microbial load of non-treated (control) and air-dried apricots by different pretreatments: osmotic dehydration (OD) for 30 and 45 min, ultrasound-assisted osmotic dehydration (UOD) at 25 and 35 kHz for 30 and 45 min, and application of coatings consisting of pectin only (P), pectin with citric acid (CA), and pectin with ascorbic acid (AA).
| Pretreatment |
N(total mesophyllic aerobic count) /(CFU/g) |
N(total yeast and mould)/ (CFU/g) |
|---|---|---|
| Dried (No pre-treatment) | (115±7)a | (40±7)a |
| OD-T30-coated (P+CA) | (65±7)cde | (25±0)cd |
| OD-T30-coated (P+AA) | (75±7)bc | (30±7)bc |
| OD-T30-coated (P) | (85±7)b | (35±7)ab |
| OD-T45-coated (P+CA) | (60±1)def | (20±0)de |
| OD-T45-coated (P+AA) | (70±14)cd | (20±14)def |
| OD-T45-coated (P) | (75±7)bc | (20±7)de |
| UOD(25)-T30-coated (P+CA) | (50±0)fgh | (10±0)h |
| UOD(25)-T30-coated (P+AA) | (55±7)efg | (15±0)fg |
| UOD(25)-T30-coated (P) | (60±0)def | (15±0)fg |
| UOD(25)-T45-coated (P+CA) | (45±7)ghi | (10±7)hi |
| UOD(25)-T45-coated (P+AA) | (50±0)fgh | (10±0)h |
| UOD(25)-T45-coated (P) | (55±7)efg | (15±7)fgh |
| UOD(35)-T30-coated (P+CA) | (40±0)hi | (0±0)j |
| UOD(35)-T30-coated (P+AA) | (45±7)ghi | (0±0)j |
| UOD(35)-T30-coated (P) | (50±0)fgh | (5±3.5)i |
| UOD(35)-T45-coated (P+CA) | (35±7)i | (0±0)j |
| UOD(35)-T45-coated (P+AA) | (40±0)hi | (0±0)j |
| UOD(35)-T45-coated (P) | (50±0)fgh | (0±0)j |
Data are mean value of duplicate measurements±standard deviation. Different letters in each column represent significant (p<0.05) differences between mean values