The purpose of this study was to examine the microbiological and physicochemical changes on packaged tofu stored at temperatures of 5, 13, 23, and 30oC, and measure the consumable period from the expiry date to ultimately evaluate the microbiological ...
The purpose of this study was to examine the microbiological and physicochemical changes on packaged tofu stored at temperatures of 5, 13, 23, and 30oC, and measure the consumable period from the expiry date to ultimately evaluate the microbiological safety on the extension of the consumable period. From the investigation, the pH value of tofu at each storage temperature (5, 13, and 23oC) showed a slight decrease over the storage period, although there was no significant change. The hardness of packaged tofu decreased more rapidly as temperature and storage time increased and the tofu started to show signs of decomposition at the same time. Analysis on the microbial change of tofu at different storage temperature revealed that the number of general bacteria also increased as the temperature increased. It was further found that packaged tofu takes 25 days at 5oC, 7 days at 13oC, and 1 day at 23oC from the expiry date until the general bacteria count is at least at the early decomposition level which is 10oC log CFU/g. However, no coliform bacteria was detected from tofu after storing at 5, 13 and 23oC. When packaged tofu was stored at 5oC, the L value changed significantly after 26 days, whereas the a and b values showed no significant change during the storage period (P>0.05). When storing tofu at 13oC and 23oC the L value decreased after 8 and 3 days, respectively. However, both a and b values increased (P<0.05).