Pulsed light (PL) treatment is a non-thermal method for microbial decontamination on the
surfaces of fresh-cut produce. The effect of pulsed light fluencies on microbiological stability
and quality changes of fresh-cut yardlong beans were determined. Pulsed light treatments were
carried out using an automatic laboratory flash lamp system (Steribeam XeMaticA-2L Kehl,
Germany) at different fluencies (1.8 J/cm2, 5.4 J/cm2, 9.0 J/cm2 and 12.6 J/cm2). Microbiological
quality (colour changes and textural changes) of fresh-cut yardlong beans stored at 4±1°C were
monitored over 14 days. Results show that, the application of PL treatment at high fluencies
allowed extension of microbiological shelf life up to 3-7 days in comparison to untreated
samples. Apart from that, PL treated sample has no significant difference on the texture and
colour as compared to untreated sample of fresh-cut yardlong bean. As a conclusion, the
application of PL at dose 9.0 J/cm2 has increased the shelf life of fresh-cut yardlong bean while
maintaining the quality when stored at 4±1°C.
Pennywort (Centella asiatica) is a herbaceous vegetable commonly consumed raw as ‘ulam’ or salad. Consumption of raw leafy green vegetables is one of the pathogenic mechanisms that could cause foodborne outbreaks. The aim of the present work was therefore to investigate the effect of pulsed light (PL) treatment at fluences of 1.5, 4.2, 6.9, 9.6, and 12.3 J/cm² on the microbiological and physical quality of pennywort stored at 4 ± 1°C. Escherichia coli (E. coli) were inoculated onto the pennywort leaves before being exposed to PL and viewed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). PL fluences of 6.9, 9.6, and 12.3 J/cm² significantly reduced the microbial count; however, the highest inactivation was obtained by using fluences of 9.6 and 12.3 J/cm². The color of pennywort was not significantly affected by PL treatment applied at lower fluences of 1.5, 4.2, and 6.9 J/cm²; however, at higher fluence, 9.6 and 12.3 J/cm², the color was affected. PL at 1.5, 4.2, 6.9, and 9.6 J/cm² was able to retain the texture appearance of the leaves. To conclude, PL at 6.9 J/cm² showed the best fluence to reduce total aerobic mesophilic count while retaining the physical properties of pennywort leaves and extend the shelf life to about four days. The inactivation of E. coli population was significantly higher at PL fluence of 6.9 J/cm². It was observed that PL caused the destruction to the surface of E. coli’s cell membrane. The reductions of samples inoculated with E. coli were better than those achieved in native microbiota. Furthermore, the present work also demonstrated that PL treatment was able to reduce the microbial count on pennywort leaves.