BioControl: Novel approach to biologically control spoilage of fresh vegetables using naturally produced reuterin - WFSC - Coop Research Program; Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships

Pre-washed, fresh-cut, minimally processed fruits and vegetables are a fast growing market answering the consumer’s demand for convenient, ready-to-use food products. Problems arising with minimal processing are short shelf life, high product loss due to microbial spoilage, and intoxication caused by several pathogens. So far, an efficient, safe and easily applicable method to control microbial contamination in fresh produce is lacking. Reuterin (3-hydroxypropionaldehyde) is a potent broad spectrum antimicrobial system natural produced from glycerol bioconversion by the food-grade bacterium Lactobacillus reuteri. For this project we hypothesize that reuterin can efficiently reduce the microbial load, including pathogens, of vegetables, leading to shelf life extension, decreased spoilage and enhanced safety of MP vegetable products. The project is organized with four work-packages:

1. Establish efficient production processes applicable to industry for the production of crude and enriched reuterin bioingredients for disinfection and food biopreservation.
2. Define the antimicrobial activity spectrum of reuterin bioingredients (crude and enriched) against a broad range of common spoilers and pathogens of vegetables in vitro.
3. Investigate the antimicrobial properties of crude and enriched reuterin bioingredients when applied to the preparation and conservation of MP vegetable produce
4. Characterize transformation products of reuterin and ensure their presence in safe levels in treated end products.

This project is expected to result in a novel, efficient and natural method using reuterin for the disinfection and biological control for minimally processed vegetable products.

http://www.worldfoodsystem.ethz.ch/research/CRP/biocontrol.html