COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON THE MICROBIAL QUALITY OF LOCALLY PROCESSED TOMATO PASTE AND TOMATO POWDER

Abstract

Microbial quality is a common criteria used to determine the acceptability and shelf life of dehydrated plant-based products. The research was conducted to compare the microbial determination tomato paste and tomato powder which was processed from fresh tomatoes sourced from the market. The parameters accessed where microbial load, yeast and mould count, total fungi count. The result carried out on the microbial analysis showed that total microbial load were low in the two samples containing tomato paste and tomato powder (1.81x 101 CFU/g, 1.05x 101 CFU/g) respectively when compared to the standard value (1.5x102CFU/g) after 5 days of storage at room temperature, but the microbial load was significantly higher in the tomato paste when compared to the tomato powder. At day 10 there was total microbial increase in the two samples and the microbial load was significantly higher in tomato paste (2.06x101 CFU/g ), than in tomato powder (1.36x101 CFU/g ). An observed increase in yeast and mould count, fungi count was obtained as the storage period increased, and tomato paste stored for ten days at room temperature recorded the highest number. The samples analyzes were lower than the maximum limit (10CFU/g) which implies good manufacturing practices.