CONTAMINATION AND SPOILAGE OF VEGETABLES

AND FRUITS
INTRODUCTION:
❖ It has been estimated that one fourth of all products harvested is
spoiled before consumption. Spoilage of fruits and vegetables
occurs during storage and transport.

CONTAMINATION:

HARVESTING:
❖ As soon as the fruits and vegetables are collected in basket, boxes
or trucks during harvesting they can be contaminated by spoilage
organisms from each other and from containers.

TRANSPORTATION:
❖ During transportation to the market or the processing plant,
mechanical damage may increase the chance of decay and growth
of microorganisms may take place.
❖ Precooling and Refrigeration during transportation will slow the
growth of microorganisms.

WASHING:
❖ Washing the fruits or vegetables can be done by soaking in water or
by agitation in water.
❖ Washing by agitation will distribute spoilage microorganism from
the damaged part to whole goods.
❖ Water used for washing should be clean and pure otherwise water
will also add some microorganisms.
❖ Washing make the surface of fruits and vegetables moist.
❖ Moist surface will allow the growth of microorganism during a
holding period.
❖ Washing with germicidal solution will reduce the number of
microorganisms.

SORTING/TRIMMING:

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 ❖ Sorting spoiled fruits or vegetables or trimming removes
microorganisms.

IN THE MARKET:
❖ In the market, they can be spoiled by storage in contaminated
baskets by contact with decaying products, improper handling by
sales persons or customer.
❖ Sometimes the fruits and vegetables are sprayed with water.
❖ Spraying with water gives fresh appearance but it may also
introduce some microorganism. E.g. Psychrotrophs.

IN THE PROCESSING PLANT:

❖ In the processing plant, contamination can occur.
❖ Adequate washing, peeling, treatment by steam, hot water and
blanching causes a reduction in number of microorganisms on the
food.
❖ Peeling, cutting may add contaminants from the equipment used.
❖ Every piece of equipment, coming in contact with food can be a
source of microorganism, if it is not cleaned frequently.
❖ Modern metal equipment with smooth internal surface is easy to
clean, wooden surfaces are difficult to sanitize and therefore they
act as a source of contamination.
❖ Hot water blanching reduces the total number of microorganisms
on the food but the spores of the thermophilic bacteria can be
activated and cause spoilage of canned foods.
❖ Contaminants from the equipment will multiply in large numbers if
enough time is given before freezing or canning.
❖ The kind of microorganism from the equipment will depend on the
product being processed. E.g. pea residues will encourage bacteria
that will grow well in pea medium.
❖ Tomato residues would encourage bacteria that will grow well in
tomato juice.

SPOILAGE:
❖ Spoilage of raw vegetables and fruits may be due to;
➢ Physical factors.
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 ➢ Action of their own enzymes.
➢ Microorganisms
➢ Combination of all these factors.
❖ Spoilage by plant pathogens will make the food unfit for
consumption.
❖ The action of plant pathogens will also provide way for the growth
of saprophytes and spoilage by them.
❖ Contact with spoiling fruits and vegetables will enable the transfer
of organism causing spoilage.
❖ Improper environmental conditions during harvesting,
transportation, storage, marketing can spoil vegetables and fruits.

GENERAL TYPES OF MICROBIAL SPOILAGE:

❖ The most common and predominant types of spoilage varies not

only with the kind of fruit or vegetables but also to some extent
with the variety.
❖ Microbial spoilage may be due to;
➢ Plant pathogens, acting in stem, leaves, flowers, roots or
other special parts of plants.
➢ Saprophytic organism which may be secondary invaders
after action of plant pathogen.
❖ Coliform bacteria can grow as secondary invaders and will be
present in fruit and vegetable juice if rotten products are included.
❖ Although each fruit or vegetables have certain type of
decomposition and kind of microorganism predominant in its
spoilage, some general types of spoilage are found more often.

The most commonly occurring spoilage is as follows;

1. Bacterial soft rot: Caused by Erwinia carotovora and related

species which are fermenters of pectin. Pseudomonas sp.,
Clostridium sp., Bacillus sp., has also been isolated from these rots.
The spoiled part has a soft, water soaked appearance and a bad
odor.
2. Grey mold rot: Caused by Botrytis sp. This type of spoilage occurs
when the humidity is high and at warm temperature condition.

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 3. Rhizopus soft rot: Caused by Rhizopus sp. E.g. Rhizopus
stolonifer. The spoiled part is soft. The cottony growth of the mold
with black dots of sporangia often covers masses of food.
4. Anthraxose: Caused by Colletotrichum lindemuthianum and other
sp. The defect appears as spots on leafs or fruits.
5. Alternaria rots: Caused by Alternaria tenuis. Brown or black spots
appear in the spoiled part.
6. Blue mold rot: Caused by Penicillium digitatum and other sp.
7. Downy mildew: Caused by the growth of Phytophthora sp., Bremia
and other genera.
8. Watery soft rot: Caused due to the growth of Sclerotinia
sclerotiorum. This spoilage mainly occurs in vegetables.
9. Stem end rots: Caused due to the growth of molds of several
genera. E.g. Alternaria, Fusarium etc. Spoilage mainly occurs at the
stem end of fruits.
10. Black mold rot: Caused by Aspergillus niger. The rot is so named
because of the dark black masses of spores of the mold.
11. Pink mold rot: Caused by Trichothecuim roseum.
12. Fusarium rot: various types of rots caused due to the growth of
Fusarium sp.
13. Green mold rot: Caused due to the growth of Cladosporium sp.
14. Sliminess or sowing: Caused by saprophytic bacteria in piled wet
vegetables.

Fungal Spoilage

❖ Fungal spoilage of vegetables often results in water soaked mushy

areas.
❖ Fungal spoilage of fleshy fruits shows brown or cream colored
areas (molds mycelia grows in the tissues below the skin, cereals
hyphae and spores appear later).
❖ Some types of fungal spoilage appear as dry rots where the
infected area is dry, hard and often discolored.
❖ Rots of fruits results in leakage.

SPOILAGE OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES JUICES:

FRUIT JUICES:

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 ❖ Juices extracted from fruits are acidic in nature.
❖ The pH of the product ranges from 2.4 (lemon juice) to 4.2 (tomato
juice). All juices contain sugar, the amount varying from above 2%
in lemon juice to almost 17% in some samples of grape juices.
❖ Juices also contain enough amount of moisture for the growth of
bacteria and yeast.
❖ Molds can grow on the surface of fruit juices if they are exposed to
air.
❖ Normal change in raw fruit juices at room temperature is an
alcoholic fermentation by yeast followed by oxidation of alcohol by
film yeast or molds or oxidation of alcohol to acetic acid if acetic
acid bacteria are present.

In addition to the usual alcoholic fermentation fruit juices may

undergo other changes caused by microorganism;

➢ Lactic acid fermentation of sugars by heterofermentative lactic

acid bacteria such as Lactobacillus brevis, Leuconostoc
mesenteroides. Homofermentative lactic acid bacteria such as
Lactobacillus leichnanii, Microbacterium.
➢ Fermentation of organic acids of the juices by lactic acid
bacteria (E.g. malic acid to lactic acid and succinic acid to lactic
acid).
➢ Slime production by leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lactobacillus
plantarum in apple juices. L. plantarum and Streptococci in
grape juice.

VEGETABLE JUICES:
❖ Vegetables juices also contain sugars but are less acidic than fruit
juices.
❖ The pH of vegetable juices range from 5.0-5.8.
❖ Vegetable juices also contain accessory growth factors that enable
the growth of microorganisms.
❖ Acid fermentation by lactic acid bacteria and other acid forming
bacteria cause spoilage by vegetable juices.
❖ Fruit juices and vegetable juices are usually canned and then heat
treated or frozen. Heat processing kill the important microorganism

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 that could cause spoilage and freezing prevents the growth of
spoilage organism.

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