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3011210 
Journal Article 
Decontamination of Pangasius fish (Pangasius hypophthalmus) with chlorine or peracetic acid in the laboratory and in a Vietnamese processing company 
Anh Ngoc Tong Thi; Sampers, I; Van Haute, Sam; Samapundo, S; Binh Ly Nguyen; Heyndrickx, M; Devlieghere, F 
2015 
Yes 
International Journal of Food Microbiology
ISSN: 0168-1605 
208 
93-101 
WOS:000358467400012 
This study evaluated the decontamination of Pangasius fillets in chlorine or peracetic acid treated wash water. First, the decontamination efficacy of the washing step with chlorinated water applied by a Vietnamese processing company during trimming of Pangasius fillets was evaluated and used as the basis for the experiments performed on a laboratory scale. As chlorine was only added at the beginning of the batch and used continuously without renewal for 239 mm; a rapid increase of the bacterial counts and a fast decrease of chlorine in the wash water were found. This could be explained by the rapid accumulation of organic matter (ca. 400 mg O-2/L of COD after only 24 mm). Secondly, for the experiments performed on a laboratory scale, a single batch approach (one batch of wash water for treating a fillet) was used. Chlorine and PM were evaluated at 10, 20, 50 and 150 ppm at contact times of 10, 20 and 240 s. Washing with chlorine and PAA wash water resulted in a reduction of Escherichia coli on Pangasius fish which ranged-from 0-1.0 and 0.4-1.4 log CFU/g, respectively while less to no reduction of total psychrotrophic counts, lactic add bacteria and coliforms on Pangasius fish was observed. However, in comparison to PM, chlorine was lost rapidly. As an example, 53-83% of chlorine and 15-17% of PM were lost after washing for 40s (COD = 2382 +/- 66.3 mg O-2/L). Peracetic acid can therefore be an alternative sanitizer. However, its higher cost will have to be taken into consideration. Where (cheaper) chlorine is used, the processors have to pay close attention to the residual chlorine level, pH and COD level during treatment for optimal efficacy. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 
Pangasius; Chlorine; Peracetic acid; Wash water; Decontamination; Sensory