Preservation of fresh-cut celery by treatment of ozonated water

Fresh-cut celery was dipped with ozonated water and evaluated for changes of microbiological population and physiological quality during storage at 4 °C. The polyphenoloxidase (PPO) activity and respiration rate of fresh-cut celery was much inhibited by treatment of ozonated water and sensory quality of fresh-cut celery treated with ozonated water was better (α=0.05) than that of non-treated. However, there is no significant difference (α=0.05) between Vitamin C and total sugar of fresh-cut celery treated with ozonated water and non-treated. The best effect of preservation of fresh-cut celery appeared to be the treatment of water ozonated to a 0.18 ppm of concentration, with which the microbial population was lowered to 1.69 LogCFU/g.