4 th International Symposium of Biotechnology10 – 11 th November 2011, Bucharest, RomaniaS.O.4. EFFECT OF MINIMAL PROCESSING OPERATIONS ONTHE SHELF-LIFE AND QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OFROMANIAN LETTUCEIrina SMEU 1 , Mona-Elena POPA 21 “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, Faculty of Food Science and Engineering,No. 47 Domeasca Street, 800008, Galati, Romania, smeu_irina@yahoo.com2 University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest, Faculty of Biotechnologies,No. 59 Marasti Avenue, 011474, Bucharest, Romania, monapopa@agral.usamv.roKeywords: minimally processed food, lettuce, shelf lifeFresh produce is more susceptible to disease organisms because of the high respiration rateafter harvesting. In this study, the influence of minimally processing operations was evaluated. Theaim was to characterize lettuce from different suppliers, to highlight the differences occurred and toprolong its shelf life by reducing the microbial contamination. In particular, the effect of minimallyprocessed lettuce was characterized by following physiochemical, microbiological and sensoryassessment to determine the color, texture, aroma and smell, both at baseline and throughout thestorage period.102
4 th International Symposium of Biotechnology10 – 11 th November 2011, Bucharest, RomaniaS.P.1. MONITORING THE HYGIENE AND THE MICROBIALQUALITY INDICATORS OF THE WHITE BREAD ON THE FLOWPRODUCTIONFlorina ANDREI, Mihaela GEICU, Radu TOMA, Mona POPAUniversity of Agronomic Science and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest, 59 Marasti Blvd, Bucharest011464, Romania, phone: 0040-21-3183640, fax: 0040-21-3182588,E-mail address: olive_oil07@yahoo.comKeywords: GHP, sanitation tests, microaeroflora, bread safetyAs parts of its global strategy to decrease the burden of foodborne diseases, the WHO(World Health Organization) actively promotes safe food handling behaviors to ensure food andwater safety during food handling and preparation. Particular attention must be given to minimizingmicrobial hazards on the whole food chain especially on the flow production.In order to obtain safety bread products it requires continuous monitoring of the bakeryunit by a properly implemented HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) in order toquickly identify potential sources of bacteriological contamination and to minimize its effects onhuman health. The HACCP system is based on the implementation and compliance with the GHP(Good Hygienic Practices) and GMP (Good manufacturing Practices) pre-operational programs.Hygiene refers to the set of practices perceived by a community to be associated with the preservationof health, healthy living and safety food products. This practice is a requisite for plant installationsand quality assurance system of food or food additives in the manufacturing, processing,compounding, packaging, transporting, storing and selling of food in order to ensure the safety,sanitation and quality of food.For this study there have been taken significant number of samples: sanitation swabscollected from working surfaces and production equipment (108 samples), sanitation swabs takenfrom employee’s hands (360 samples), microaeroflora tests (36 samples), sanitation swabs collectedfrom packaging polypropylene materials (12 samples) and also there were analyzed finished bakeryproducts (188 samples) and the results are presented.103