Kun-Sang Park

Evaluation of the Level of Microbial Contamination in the Manufacturing and Processing Company of Red Pepper Powder

This study was conducted to monitor and evaluate microbial contamination during manufacturing process in 6 red pepper powder factories. Red pepper powder samples were taken from manufacturing facilitates, working area and workers hands to determine sanitary indicator bacteria (SIB) such as aerobic bacteria and coliform group as well as pathogenic indicator bacteria (PIB) such as Staphylococcus aureus, E.coli, Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, and Bacillus cereus. The results indicated that SIB in primary materials was detected as low as 3 log units and E.coil and Staphylococcus aureus of PIB were detected. After grinding process, aerobic bacteria, fungi, and coliform group increased 52% and 108%, respectively. In final products, PIB was not detected except for one found Staphylococcus aureus by which workers hands were contaminated. Moreover, UV detectors in all the manufacturers were not able to reduce bacteria. Thus, this data suggest that a stringent safety management be needed to prevent cross contamination, and also reconsider effectiveness of facility.

Luminescence Detection Characteristics for Irradiated Dried Fishes Using PSL-TL System

Photostimulated luminescence (PSL) and thermoluminescence (TL) analyses were conducted for the detection of different irradiated dried fishes. All the non-irradiated samples provided PSL counts of lower than 700 (negative: T1). Clear identification of irradiated sample was only possible for irradiated anchovy with PSL counts >5000; however, the results were unsatisfactory (not positive) for irradiated cod, dried filefish, hairtail, and herring samples. The contaminating silicate minerals were obtained by density separation or acid hydrolysis to perform TL analysis, which resulted in a low intensity of TL glow curve with a maximum peak after 250 o C for the non-irradiated samples that are irrespective of their kinds and methods for the mineral separation. The TL glow curves of high intensity with maximum peak in the temperature range of 150-250 o C were observed for all the irradiated samples. However, better results of TL glow curves and particularly of the TL ratio (TL 1 /TL 2 ) were obtained when the minerals were separated by a acid hydrolysis method.