A Study on the Effect of Preservation on the Microbial Growth in Fruit Juices

Abstract

Traditionally fruit juices and fruit products are considered as microbiologically safer than other unprocessed foods. Fruit juices are popular drinks as they contain antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that are essential for human being and play an important role in the prevention of heart diseases, cancer, and diabetes. The objective of this study is to evaluate microbiological safety and quality of freshly prepared juices and preserved juices. Thirty fruit juice samples were collected from different areas in and around Hyderabad .Some of the packed juice products were also collected for the study. The microorganisms isolated from both fresh street vended juices and packed liquid products were identified as Staphylococcus spp, Lactobacillus spp, Cornybacterium spp, Micrococcus spp, Pseudomonas spp by biochemical tests. Pathogens like Cornybacterium, Staphylococcus were also isolated. On preservation of fruit juices for 5 days the microbial load increased when compared to fresh juice samples. The viable count of sample increases from 4 x 100 to 610 x 100 CFU/ml. The Antimicrobial susceptibility testing is performed to check the sensitivity of the isolated pathogenic organisms and it was observed that Staphylococcus aureus was sensitive to all the antibiotics while cornybacterium spp was sensitive to few antibiotics like Gentamicin, Roxythromycin, Cefadroxil, and Azithromycin and resistant to Amikacin, Ampiclox, Ciprofloxacin, Clarithromicin, Cefotaxime, Sparfloxacin.