value of around 10 days, the differences among
them not being statistically significant. The data
reported in Table 2 can also be explained in terms of
gas concentration in the package headspace that in turn
depends on the barrier properties of the packaging
materials. Low O
MAL
min
2
availability and high CO
concentrations
are supposed to inhibit the growth of spoilage
microbial groups (Saltveit, 2003). Therefore, the OTR
data reported in Table 1 are in agreement with the
calculated MAL
min
2
values, confirming that higher OTR
values corresponded to the lower MAL
values.
min
Total coliforms population increased in all samples as
storage time increased, regardless of treatment and
packaging material (Fig. 4). However, differences in the
growth kinetics were recorded and statistically compared
by cluster analysis. The sole statistically significant
difference was recorded between MLF-cnt and all
the other samples, suggesting that in this trial the barrier
properties of the film play a major role in determining
microbial proliferation. The yeasts were less numerous
than bacteria and at a fairly constant level during
storage (Fig. 5), in agreement with pattern found in
other similar fresh-cut produce, such as cantaloupe
(Luna-Guzman & Barrett, 2000; Bai et al., 2001). The
same statistical approach used for coliforms was also
adopted for yeasts. Even though the cluster analysis
classified the samples in different groups, no statistically
significant difference was recorded, suggesting that
neither dipping nor packaging material influenced, to a
great extent, fungi proliferation. Competition between
fungi and bacteria was most probably the cause of the
fungi stationary state (Luna-Guzman & Barrett, 2000).
The pH value of the investigated samples did not
change significantly during storage, ranging between 6
and 5 in all the packaged samples (data not shown). This