Diced papayas from each packet were evaluated to determine
microbial load as per the standard plate count method. Total
plate count agar and potato dextrose agar (HiMedia Laboratories,
India) were used to determine mesophilic aerobics and yeast
and molds count, respectively. A 10 g papaya sample was diluted
with 90 mL of sterile NaCl solution. The solution was homogenized
with a sterilized kitchen blender homogenizer for 10 min
and was then further diluted to get serial dilutions. Serially diluted
samples were plated onto total plate count agar, potato dextrose
agar. 1 mL of each dilution was transferred to sterile petri
plate and 15–20 mL of sterile agar media at temperature 40–45 ◦C
was poured, mixed well and allowed to set. Plates were incubated
at 37
±
0.5 ◦C for 48 h. At the end of the incubation period
the colony forming unit (cfu) were counted and multiplied by
appropriate dilution factor to obtain total plate count and yeast
and molds count. All the experiments were performed in triplicates