ABSTRACT

The production and preservation of pineapple juice using selected food spices was conducted in this study. The food spices used includes ginger, garlic, negro pepper, nutmeg and curry powder. Pineapple juice was produced by homogenizing the pulp portion of the pineapple fruits in a sterile blender. The juice obtained after filtration were treated with the same quantity of ginger, garlic, nutmeg, negro pepper and curry powder. Their effects were evaluated during the period of 4 days of storage. A ten-fold serial dilution of both treated and control juice samples were carried for enumeration of microorganisms. Different values of bacterial count of both treated and control samples were obtained during the period of monitoring that is the total heterotrophic plate count ranged from 3.7 × 105 – 2.1 × 105 cfu/ml, total coliform plate count also range from 6.1  × 105- 3.5 × 105 cfu/ml and the total Lactobacillus plate count range from 4.5 × 105 – 2.1 105 cfu/ml. The pH, temperature and titratable acidity of the samples were determined using standard methods. The different values of the physicochemical parameters of these samples were obtained during the storage period. pH, temperature and titratable acidity values ranged from 6.9 – 4.0, 280C – 260C and 0.30 – 0.14 respectively. The microorganisms isolated were Escherichia coli, Bacillus spp. Lactobacillus spp, Klebsiella spp and Staphylococcus aureus. The antibiotic susceptibility results showed that Bacillus spp and Klebsiella spp were resistant to Amoxil, Streptomycin and Chloramphenicol, Escherichia coli was also resistant to Chlorampenicol, Augmentin, Norfloxacin and amoxil but sensitive to other antibiotics used while Staphylococcus aureus was resistant to only Chloramphenicol and Augmentin but sensitive to other antibiotics. The results of this study showed that the treatment exhibited antimicrobial effect on the microbial load of the pineapple juice especially ginger, garlic and negro pepper. Therefore, treatment of pineapple juice with ginger, garlic, nutmeg, negro pepper and curry powder can help extend the shelf life of the pineapple juice.