Microbial analysis of leafy vegetables in iceless cooling facility

Against the background that leafy vegetables stored under ambient conditions are influenced by environmental factors which may cause significant quality loss in terms of freshness, colour, texture and composition, the iceless cooler was used to evaluate microbial load of leafy vegetables. The samples were evaluated for bacterial (coliforms and mesophiles) and fungal (mold and yeast) loads. Results of the microbial test showed that Corchorus olitorius had highest mean microbial load with plate count of 6.7 x 104 CFU/g and Hibiscus sabdariffa had the least mean microbial load with plate count of 4.8 x 104 CFU/g after five days of storage. Corchorus olitorius show a significant increase of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococci species after five days of storage. The ANOVA results showed that vegetables stored under ambient conditions were significantly different (p˂0.01) from those stored in the iceless cooler. The results also indicate that Amaranthus dubius recorded the highest mean weight of 1.94kg and maintained its freshness and colour for up to three days compared with Corchorus olitorius with the least weight of 1.84kg.