Microbiological and sensory qualities of soft packaged sliced Zizania lactifolia Turz

Aiming at the phenomenon of uneasy storage of the sliced Zizania lactifolia Turz. Microbial counts (total psychrotrophic counts, lactic acid bacteria, coliforms, pseudomonads, yeasts) and sensory qualities (desiccation, color, aroma and general appearance, instrumental color and firmness) of the soft packaged sliced Zizania lactifolia Turz were investigated during storage. The correlations between microbial counts and sensory qualities were studied as well. The statistic results showed that microbial counts of sliced Zizania lactifolia Turz stored at -2℃ and 4℃ exceeded 10⁶ cfu/g on 10th day and 7th day, and sensory qualities began to decrease evidently on 11th day and 7th day, respectively. Microbial counts were fitted to the modified Gompertz equation well and the microbial growth could be predicted with regression coefficient between 0.945 and 0.984. Lactic acid bacteria and yeasts were the predominant microorganisms during storage and had the high correlation(p＜0.05) with general sensory qualities, firmness, instrumental color, sensory color and desiccation at both temperatures.