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Electrical treatments, which are among the nonthermal preservation technologies, have been gaining importance with the changes in the preferences of consumers who want high quality foods. In this study, electroplasmolysis (EP) as a pretreatment and microwave (MW) heating as an alternative to traditional heating were used in the production of red pepper puree in order to increase the puree yield and improve the quality characteristics of the puree. The red pepper purees were treated by EP, conventional heating (CH) as the control and also combinations of treatments (EP+MW, EP+CH). The EP application was optimized using response surface methodology. The optimum conditions were found as a voltage gradient of 143V/cm and a treatment time of 60s. At this optimum point, the yield was found to be 76.3%. In the combination of the EP and MW groups, the yield increased by 7.56% compared with the control group. The pectin and vitamin C contents increased after the pretreatments when compared to the control group. Practical Applications: Electrical treatments are used as an alternative to traditional food processing techniques. Electroplasmolysis (EP) application provides an increased permeability of the plant tissues. This benefit can be used in the production of fruit and vegetable juice or puree. Yield is so important especially on the industrial scale. EP and microwave applications increased the yield and also the quality of the red bell pepper puree, and as a result, these methods are useful for food processing technology. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Pepino, Solanum muricatum, is a herbaceous plant of South American origin [1, 2]. Currently, several commercial varieties are being developed in New Zealand and Australia through selection and breeding (e.g., Suma, Miski, Lincoln Long, Golden Litestripe, etc.), while other cultivars (e.g., El Camino and Schmidt) are direct introductions of material grown in Chile [3]. The pepino (Solanum muricatum Aiton, Solanaceae) is a little-known crop from the tropical and subtropical Andes esteemed for its edible fruits, which are aromatic, juicy, scented, mildly sweet, and greatly varying in size, shape, and color depending on the cultivar [1, 2]. The fruit matures 30 to 80 days after pollination. Its color starts with green and during ripening changes to golden yellow covered with purple stripes [4]. El-Zeftawi et al. [5] reported that the fruit often fails to ripen normally and thus fails to develop its characteristic flavor after harvest. Hence, appropriate harvesting of pepino fruit is essential for high pepino quality [6–8]. The pepino is said to have medicinal properties. It is a good antiscorbutic since it contains vitamin C (25–70 mg/100 mL) at higher levels than normally found in most fruits [9–11]. This work is a first step to identify and quantify organic acids and sugars and some properties in pepino fruits and fruit juices (cv. Miski) from Turkey using HPLC methods. The overall objective of the study was to determine the quality characteristics of pepino fruits during the maturation period and to identify objective indices of the properties of both the fruit and the juice. Pepino fruits (cv. Miski) were harvested at three stages (green, strapped green, mature) from December 2009 to February 2010 at Akyazi and Antalya, Turkey. Pepino fruits were harvested and kept at a temperature of 5 C until analysis. All chemicals and solvents were obtained from Sigma Chemical Co. (St Louis, MO, USA) and Merck (Darmstadt, Germany). Pepino fruits (cv. Miski) were 168.2–258.2 g/fruit weight, 6.50–8.78 cm in diameter, and 8.17–9.32 cm long. The juice yield (%) of pepino samples varied from 43.0 to 51.0% (Table 1). During the maturation period a small increase in fruit weight, fruit width, and fruit length was detected. Antalya pepinos were approximately 10% more massive than Akyazi pepinos at the mature stage. The chemical properties of pepino juice samples are given in Table 1. In this study, the total acidity (%) in pepino fruits was determined as ranging from 0.06 to 0.08, the Brix (total soluble solids, SSC) from 4.00 to 7.10, and pH values from 4.89 to 5.84. The total soluble solids content of the two different pepinos increased during the maturation period. Gonzalez et al. [7] found pH values ranging from 4.74–5.40 and 4.89–5.14 in the sweet round and sweet long kinds. In their study on the quality and physiological behavior of pepinos, Lizana and Levano [12] reported that typical Chilean pepinos had 8.5% soluble solids when ripe. De Arriola et al. [9] also reported a total acidity of 0.06%, a Brix (total soluble solids) of 9.5%, total sugars of 4.06 g/100 g, and ascorbic acid of 34.25 mg/100 g in ripe pepino fruits of a local selection.

This study was designed to determine the presences of two environmental pathogens in two dairy factories in Sakarya, Turkey. A total of 264 environmental samples, raw milk and cheese samples were taken at four different seasons. According to the results, Listeria monocytogenes or Escherichia colt O157:H7 was isolated from 26 or 2.7% of the samples collected from both factories, respectively. None of the cheese or curd samples were found to be positive for Listeria or E. coli O157:H7. However, 50% of raw milk samples contained Listeria innocua. Listeria was mostly isolated from the swap samples taken from the drains or the floors in processing or packaging areas. However, E. colt was also isolated from the swap samples taken from the workers' hands and gloves as well as the drains and the floor. Only one raw milk sample contained E. coli O157:H7. A higher prevalence of both pathogens was observed in the summer months than in the other months. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.