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ABSTRACT
Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum) is one of the most important crop worldwide and constitutes part of our daily diets as food or salads. Tomato is an extremely valuable raw material for a wide range of processed foods. Tomato has a high amount of water which makes them more susceptible to spoilage by the action of various bacteria. The aim of this study was to evaluate the bacteriological quality of tomato fruit puree product pasteurized and treated with sodium metabisulphite and stored under anaerobic condition. Tomato fruits were purchased at Aduwawa tomatoes market, Ikpoba-Okha local Government Area, Edo state, Nigeria and blended into tomato puree. The tomato puree samples were treated with differing concentrations (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5g/l) of sodium metabisulphite and pasteurized at 65° c for 15minutes. The treated samples were stored for 15 days under anaerobic conditions and analysed at every 5 days interval. The analysis carried out were Total heterotrophic bacteria, coliform and Salmonella counts, as well as Titratable acidity and changes in pH. From the result, the identified isolates were: Staphylococcus sp., Pediococcus sp., Micrococcus sp., Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus cereus, Bacillus sp., Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus sp. and Aeromonas hydrophila .From this study, preservation of tomato puree using pasteurization and sodium metabisulphite showed an effective ways of prevention against spoilage in tomatoes.
