Spoilage organisms of tomato during storage

What is it about?

Postharvest storage effects of tomato on antioxidant bioactive compounds and its spoilage was investigated from its lipophilic and hydrophilic extracts and studied using standard microbiological methods. Fungal species of Penicillium sp., Aspergillusniger and yeast sp. (Candida sp.) with total load from 3.90×103 to 9.02×107 CFU g-1 FW and bacterial species of Enterobacter sakazakii, Acinetobacter iwoffii , Stenotrophomonas maltophilia , Klebsiella pneumonia , Klebsiella planticola, Pantoeaagglomerans, Pseudomonas aeroginosa and Chrombacterium sp. with total load of 1.70×104 to 1.01×108 CFU g-1 FW were isolated and identified responsible for tomato spoilage. Microbial spoilage resulted in increase in colony forming units and 52.37% loss in vitamin C content. Lycopene biosynthesis was enhanced up to a maximum of 38.45 mg kg-1 during storage. Pronounced increase was observed in total phenols reaching 2.29 times at the end of storage whereas antioxidant activity’s increase was 40%.

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Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Photo by CDC on Unsplash