Microbiological quality of fresh sugarcane juice as influenced by ginger and lemon extracts addition and pasteurisation

Abstract

This study was carried out with the aim of minimising potential health risks posed to consumers of fresh sugarcane juice. Fresh sugarcane juice was produced with ginger and lemon as additives, pasteurised and held at ambient temperature for 24 h. The microbial safety of the sugarcane juices, enumeration and identification of the microbial species were carried out using standard microbiological techniques. There were significant (p>0.05) decreases in the total plate, total fungal, and lactic acid bacteria count with addition of ginger and lemon extracts, and pasteurisation. Values decreased from 4.11 log CFU/ml to 2.33 log CFU/ml, 3.43 log CFU/ml to 2.62 log CFU/ml and 4.11 log CFU/ml to 2.07 log CFU/ml for total bacterial, lactic acid bacterial and fungal counts, respectively. No Bacillus cereus growth was observed. The pH values of the fresh juice ranged between 5.50 and 4.00, depending on the treatment.
Bacteria identified from the various juice samples included Klebsiella spp, Enterococcus spp, Micrococcus spp, Pseudomonas
aeruginosa, while fungi included Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida albicans, Debaromyces spp, Aspergillus niger with Saccharomyces
spp having the highest population. Although the microbial load was within acceptable limits, safer sugarcane juice can
be produced using a combination of ginger and lemon extracts with pasteurisation.