Effct of Infrared, Ultraviolet-C Radiations and Vacuum Drying on Certain Chemical and Microbial Characteristics of Stuffd Pasta (Manti)

Abstract

Stuffd pasta (manti) is one of the famous and nutritious traditional foods produced and consumed in Turkey. Traditionalfoods are special products having some cultural aspects of specifi regions of countries. In addition to home-madetraditional production, industrial production of manti has increased in recent years. Industrial production of manti usingvarious techniques is likely to result in some risks or modifiations in terms of its sensory and microbiological features.Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine quality properties of manti samples produced by sole or combinedapplications of infrared (IR) and ultraviolet-C (UV-C) radiations and vacuum drying as compared to the traditionaloven drying method. With this aim, some food-borne pathogens (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonellatyphimurium and Listeria monocytogenes) were inoculated into the manti recipe prior to the production. Afterwards, thesamples were dried with 17 diffrent IR, UV-C and vacuum drying combinations, including the traditional oven dryingmethod. In addition to the, total microorganisms and food-borne pathogens, some chemical analyses like Thiobarbituricacid (TBA) measurement as an indicator of lipid oxidation was also studied. In the results, application of 500 W IR dryingmethod produced satisfactory results in terms of microbiological quality. Again, a bar-type IR drying method at constanttemperature (150 ºC) seems to be a promising drying method for the industrial manti production. In conclusion, it mightbe suggested that IR drying method can be an alternative to the conventional method in industrial manti production.