Preservation of ready-to-eat salad: A study with combination of sanitizers, ultrasound, and essential oil-containing β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex

The microbiological quality of a ready-to-eat salad treated with different sanitizers (sodium dichloroisocyanurate (SD), peracetic acid (PA) or isolated or combined with ultrasound (US)), and packaged alongside sachets containing beta-cyclodextrin/Pimenta dioica essential oil inclusion complex was evaluated. Consumer acceptability was also assessed. Furthermore, treatments were investigated against Listeria monocytogenes intentionally inoculated. SD, SD + US, and PA treatments showed similar efficiency against psychrotrophic (log reduction < 1) and lactic acid bacteria (log reductions of 1.18 +/- 0.25, 1.28 +/- 0.19 and 1.03 +/- 0.22 for SD, SD + US, and PA, respectively). Concerning yeasts and molds, SD and SD + US reached the greatest log reduction (counts < 4 log CFU g(-1)), whereas PA + US was more efficient than PA. Against L. monocytogenes, SD, SD + US and PA + US led to the best results. The presence of sachet, however, did not contribute to salad preservation. Sensory evaluation showed that salads stored alongside sachets were the least accepted by consumers with scores between 5 and 6 for overall impression attribute, while samples without sachets received average scores > 7. These findings are of great importance since they demonstrate the need for studies that evaluate the properties of EO when applied in a food system.