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The objective of this cooperative research project is to continue the development of processes for storage of acidified vegetables without the use of a heat process to assure microbial safety and stability of the vegetables.
Methods are being developed to store acidified vegetables in bulk containers and in retail packages without the use of a heat process to assure microbial safety. Processing cucumbers, sauerkraut and peppers will be the focus of this project. Mathematical models will be developed to predict the conditions and time required to assure removal of pathogenic bacteria or non-pathogenic spoilage bacteria from these vegetables stored in acidified brines, or, in the case of sauerkraut, to assure growth of fermentative organisms. Demonstration of the validity of modeling approaches will be tested in products on either a laboratory or pilot plant scale, as appropriate.