All chemicals and standards except for nutrient agar and maximum
recovery diluent (Oxoid, Basingstoke, UK) were purchased from Sigma
Aldrich (Dorset, UK) and were of analytical grade. Fully ripe tomatoes
(cv Pitenza, cultivated in Spain)were purchased at 3 different occasions
from local stores in Northern Ireland (UK) between April to May 2013.
In total, 45 kg of tomatoes were purchased and graded before processing
(mean weight, 85 ± 5 g and mean circumference, 15 ± 1 cm), odd
shape and size tomatoes were excluded. Cheese cloth (100 × 100 cm)
was purchased in the local market and standard packaging materials
(polyethylene/polyamide film) were obtained from Scobie & Junor
(Mallusk, UK).