Identification of Potentially Hazardous Microorganisms and Assessment of Physicochemical Deterioration of Thermally Processed King Coconut (Cocos nucifera var. aurantiaca) Water under Different Processing Conditions in Sri Lanka

King coconut water (KCW) is a sweet relish product that is more prone to rapid quality deterioration, and several safety concerns are emerging due to its inappropriate thermal processing. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify the potential spoilage/pathogenic microorganisms associated with the processing of KCW, with the assessment of possible physicochemical changes as providing preliminary information required for the thermal process validation of bottled KCW. Samples (n = 6, 150 ml/sample) were collected from three different KCW processing facilities at five critical processing steps P1−P5. A facility survey, physicochemical analyses, and microbial enumeration and isolation, along with their molecular identifications, were conducted. It was found that all tested physicochemical properties were significantly changed p