This study was conducted to develop a model for describing the effect of storage temperature (4, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35℃) on the growth of Escherichia coli O157 : H7 in ready-to-eat (RTE) lettuce treated with or without (control) alkaline electrolyzed water (AIEW). The growth curves were well fitted with the Gompertz equation, which was used to determine the specific growth rate (SGR) and lag time (LT) of E. coli O157 : H7 (R2 = 0.994). Results showed that the obtained SGR and LT were dependent on the storage temperature. The growth rate increased with increasing temperature from 4 to 35℃. The square root models were used to evaluate the effect of storage temperature on the growth of E. coli O157 : H7 in lettuce samples treated without or with AIEW. The coefficient of determination (R2), adjusted determination coefficient (R2 Adj), and mean square error (MSE) were employed to validate the established models. It showed that R2 and R2 Adj were close to 1 (> 0.93), and MSE calculated from models of untreated and treated lettuce were 0.031 and 0.025, respectively. The results demonstrated that the overall predictions of the growth of E. coli O157 : H7 agreed with the observed data.

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of drying, curing and freezing on the quality of beef. Three types of dried (without salt = T1, with salt = T2 and salt + spices = T3); three types of cured (salt curing = T4, sugar curing = T5 and brine curing = T6) and three types of frozen beef (0℃ = T7, -10℃ = T8 and -20℃ = T9) were analyzed at different time intervals up to the period of 180 d. Parameters studied were protein, fat, ash, color and cooking loss of beef. All the chemical constituents (protein, fat and ash) were decreased gradually up to 120 d. The decreasing trend was observed rapid after 120 d up to 180 d of preservation. Highest protein loss was found in T7 (11.1%) and the lowest protein loss was found in T6 (3.85%) in 180 d preservation and significant (p < 0.01) differences were observed among the different preservation methods. Highest fat loss was observed in T6 (7.62%) and the lowest fat loss was observed in T2 (3.18%) and the differences were also significant (p < 0.05) among different methods during the experimental period. Spices dried beef showed a brighter color than others and cured beef showed brown color and the intensity of color was reduced gradually with the increasing of storage period. T9 showed the lowest cooking loss among 3 treatments of frozen beef and the differences also significant (p < 0.01) up to 180 d. It might be stated that sugar curing (T5) and spices drying (T3) would be the useful technique of meat preservation in rural areas and freezing (T9) would be used in large scale preservation at urban areas.

This study was conducted to determine microbiological assessment on edible ices, which is one of mandatory items for HACCP application, and to provide basic scientific data for the improvement of HACCP system. In HACCP applied edible ice companies, the contamination levels of total counts, yeast and mold, and coliform from raw materials, mixed samples before sterilization, mixed samples after sterilization, and final products of edible ices were lower than those of non-HACCP applied edible ice companies. Foodborne pathogens, such as L. monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., B. cereus, S. aureus, Y. enterocoliticawere not detected in all samples of edible ices from HACCP applied edible ice companies, but S. aureus was isolated from 1 raw material, 1 mixed samples before sterilization and 1 final product of edible ices from non-HACCP applied edible ice companies, respectively.

The statistics probability approach for microbial risk assessment (MRA) has been recognized as an efficient method because this probability approach, which can be presented the diversity, variability, and uncertainty for the environmental factors of food processing, provide better realistic results than point estimate. This study was conducted to determine of probability statistics for the environmental factors of the pork-cutting processing i.e. the processing time, the pork meat temperature, and processing room temperature etc. As the input parameters for the MRA, triangular distribution and normal distribution were selected as an efficient probability distribution model, these distributions were analyzed by the simulation. The simulation results showed the processing time estimated 53 min as mean (5% - 22 min and 95% - 98 min), pork meat temperature estimated 4.83 ℃ as mean (5% - 2.25 ℃ and 95% - 7.12 ℃, 48.78% exceed 5 ℃), and processing room temperature estimated 17 ℃ as mean (5% - 10.92 ℃ and 95% - 22.56 ℃, 71.178% exceed 15 ℃).

The adsorption of phenolic compound resorcinol on activated carbons prepared from Moringa oleifera (Drumstick bark) has been investigated. Activated carbon was prepared by impregnating Moringa oleifera with 50% phosphoric acid in the ratio of 1:1 and 1:2(w/w), designated as MOAC1 and MOAC2. Equilibrium and isotherm studies were carried out. The influences of variables such as contact time, initial concentration of resorcinol, carbon dosage in the solution on percentage adsorption and adsorption capacity of the bark have been analysed. The equilibration time was found to be 4 h. Kinetics of resorcinol onto activated carbons was checked for pseudo first order and pseudo second order model. It was found that the adsorption of resorcinol follows pseudo second order kinetics for both MOAC1 and MOAC2. The isotherm data were correlated with isotherm models, namely Langmuir and Freundlich. Adsorption isotherms were satisfactorily fitted by both the Langmuir and Freundlich model for MOAC1 and MOAC2.

Experiments with a URT-0.5 accelerator (0.5 MeV, 50 ns, 1 kW) generating a nanosecond electron beam for irradiation of silver nitrate in various liquid solutions (water and toluene) were performed with the aim of producing silver nanopowders. A radiochemical reaction allows making weakly agglomerated pure Ag powders with particles of 10-15 nm and 30-50 nm in size by irradiation in toluene and water respectively. The injection of the nanosecond electron beam energy to the solution is optimal. As the absorbed dose increases, the output of the radiochemical reaction does not grow, but more agglomerated powders are synthesized.

In the present study Sisal fiber obtained from the leaves of Agave sisalana has been chosen to validate its viability as an adsorbent for the removal of Nickel from aqueous solutions. The material was also surface modified and its effect on adsorption of Nickel was also studied. Agave sisalana fiber was found to be a cheap and effective adsorbent doing away with the need to activate the material therby reducing processing cost. The equilibrium studies indicated that the adsorption capacity of raw fiber and the surface modified fiber was 8.66 and 9.77 mg/g respectively with the Langmuir isotherm describing the adsorption phenomena better than the Freundlich and Temkin isotherm. The adsorption was found to be exothermic from the thermodynamic studies and the kinetics showed that the adsorption phenomena were second order.