Desarrollo de métodos rápidos para la detección de alicyclobacillus spp. en materia prima destinada a la elaboración de bebidas y zumos de frutas

Abstract

Summary Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris is a thermoacidophilic, spore-forming bacterium that grows to a temperature between 26 and 60 ºC (with an optimal rank of temperature 42-53 ºC) and in a pH rank of 2,0 to 6,0 with optimal values between 3,5 and 5,0. It is a thermoresistant bacterium that can grow in acidic food, including fruit juices and drinks, and it means a great problem for the industry of this sector, since the deterioration in the juices by this microorganism is not noticeable on the final product as it grows without gas formation but it originates unpleasant tastes modifying the product, like "a taste of medicine". Its detection gives rise to difficulties at the quality departments, given that several days are necessary for the obtaining of results by the traditional microbiological methods. For that reason, it is highly important the development of quick methods which allow to control Alicyclobacillus in the raw materials used in the food industry, guaranteeing in this way the absence of this microorganism on the final products, fruit juices and drinks. At the present Doctoral Thesis the general aim has been to study the application of two quick methods (electrical impedance and RTi-PCR) for the detection of Alicyclobacillus spp. in different raw materials used in the juice industry. For that, the raw materials (concentrated grape juice, concentrated apple juice, concentrated pineapple juice, concentrated orange juice, peach-nectarine purée, pear purée and orange pure juice) were inoculated with spores Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris isolated from a peach and grape juice, and with a reference strain of the same. At the first experience, different heat treatments were tried out (80 ºC/10 minutes, 70 ºC/20 minutes and 60 ºC/30 minutes) for the spore germination to vegetative forms, with no significant differences in the Alicyclobacillus counts to the different concentrations of inocula nor in the recovery percentages. It is for that reason that it was selected the heat treatment of 80 ºC/10 minutes in order to employ in this way less time of analysis. The electrical impedance technique valid for Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris detection was the indirect method, which registered the changes in the impedance of the environ (%M) via the transformation of CO2 derived from the metabolic pathway of the guaiacol by Alicyclobacillus, being the BAT broth the most adequate culture medium for the determination of this microorganism. On the contrary, it was not detected growth by direct electrical impedance. For each one of the raw materials, concentrated grape juice, concentrated apple juice, concentrated orange juice, peach-nectarine purée, pear purée and orange pure juice, it was developed a valid method for the detection and quantification of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris by indirect electrical impedance for a value of %M = -10, achieving high correlation coefficients and corrected variance, higher to the 0,8, not only for the experiment carried out with an isolated strain from a commercial peach and grape juice and identified as Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris, but also for that one carried out with a reference strain of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris. The validation of this method compared to the method of classical microbiology with BAM Agar resulted satisfactory with values of R2 > 0,9 for each one of the matrixes mentioned. However, for the concentrated pineapple juice this method didn&apos;t allow an adequate quantification, as it was obtained low correlation between the variables detection time by impedance and logarithm of the colony-forming units quantified by traditional plating with BAM Agar, as for the study carried out with the isolated strain as in that one carried out with the reference strain. In addition to this, this method either could be validated with the classical method of microbiology with BAM Agar for obtaining a very low value of variance, R2 =0,366. With the RTi-PCR technique is possible to determine the concentration of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris in all the raw materials used in this study and destined to the manufacturing of fruit juices and drinks, obtaining values of R2 > 0,9 with an established value of CT < 40 and with a detection limit of 200 ufc/mL in all the cases, even in that of the concentrated pineapple juice, as opposed to the technique by electrical impedance. The intrinsic characteristics of chemical composition analysed in the samples: ºBrix, pH, glucose, fructose, sacarose, water soluble pectins, organic acids, phenolic compounds and flavonoids, had no influence in the growth of Alicyclobacillus spp., not observing differences in the growth of the microorganism among the samples, with the exception of the concentrated pineapple juice. In the case of the pineapple juice, the results obtained in the indirect electrical impedance method could be related to the phenolic composition of this juice that is characterized by a high content in lignans, compound considered as fungi antimicrobial and some pathogenic bacteria, which could inhibit the growth of Alicyclobacillus and, therefore, the synthesis of guaiacol and the CO2 formation.