One of the biggest obstacles towards orange juice trade is its limited shelf-life. Microbial spoilage is among the reasons for declining the quality of orange juice during storage. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of chitosan as a natural preservative to increase the shelf-life of orange juice. For this, different concentrations of chitosan including 0, 0.4, 0.8, 1, 1.2, 1.6 and 2 g/L were used. During the storage periodmicrobial (total bacterial count) and chemical(Brix and pH) characteristics were assessed.Resultsshowed that higher concentrations of chitosan significantly (p<0.05) inhibit the proliferation microbial population throughout the storage period. Moreover, application of higher concentrations (1.6, 2 g/L) of chitosan increased the pH and Brix in orange juice. That is to say, minimum Brix (12.03) and maximum pH value (4.51) was found in the samples containing 2 g/L of chitosan. Microbial (total bacterial count) counts showed the highest value of 3.45 log cfu/ml in the control sample, and the lowest quantity of 2.43 was determined at concentrations of 1.6 and 2 g/Lof chitosan. It was concluded that chitosan can be used as a natural preservative to prolong the shelf-life of orange juice. Consequently,it could be use as an alternative for thermal treatments which haveharmful effects on the nutritional properties of orange juice. However, comprehensive evaluations dealing with the effect of chitosan on various microbial groups should be performed.
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