Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 12 (2011) 526–530

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Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / i f s e t

Effect of water activity (aw) and irradiation on the shelf-life of fresh noodles
Man Li, Kexue Zhu ⁎, Xu Guo, Wei Peng, Huiming Zhou
State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi-214122, Jiangsu Province, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this work, the effect of water activity (aw), irradiation and their combination on the preservation of fresh
Received 20 November 2010 noodles was studied. Microbial growth, pH and sensory characteristics were investigated during 16 days'
Accepted 10 June 2011 storage time under 37 °C. The combination of glycerol (3%), propylene glycol (2%), compound phosphate
(0.4%) and salt (3%) was proved to be the most effective group which could reduce aw from 0.979 (control) to
Editor Proof Receive Date 14 July 2011
0.900. Under this condition, the shelf-life of fresh noodles could be extended for more than 7 times. Moreover,
Keywords:
a synergism between humectants and irradiation treatment was observed in relation to microorganism
Fresh noodle inhibition and shelf-life extension. For all the irradiated noodles, TPC (total plate count) did never exceed the
Water activity selected deterioration threshold limit (106 CFU/g) during the entire observation period. When the irradiation
Irradiation dose was 4 kGy or higher, scarcely any bacteria proliferation was observed. Noodle samples irradiated at
Shelf-life 4 kGy showed the best pH and sensory stability as the storage time increased.
Industrial relevance: This paper presents an effective and low-cost method to prolong the shelf-life of fresh
noodles, which can largely extend the store time of fresh noodles at room temperature, and does not produce
any negative changes in sensory attributes. This method will be a new system for food preservation with lots
of possible industrial applications. The results of this research also have implications for dumpling skins and
other noodle types.
© 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction dehydroacetate and calcium propionate. However, it must be

highlighted that nowadays consumers demand products free of
Noodles, in various contents, formulations, and shapes have been chemical preservatives or with reduced levels of them (Diez, Santo,
the staple foods in many Asian countries since ancient time (Fu, Jaime, & Rovira, 2009). Xu et al. (2008) and Huang, Huang, Huang, and
2008). It has been estimated that at least twelve percent of global Chen (2007) proved the antimicrobial activity of flaxseed and
wheat production is used for processing Asian noodle products (FAO, Maillard reaction products (MRPs) prepared from chitosan and xylose
2005; Gan, Ong, Wong, & Easa, 2009). For quite a long time, people in fresh noodles respectively. However, with the two natural
could only buy dry noodles or instant fried noodles in supermarkets preservatives, shelf-life of fresh noodles could be extended for only
for preservation. Even so, as a food product with a long history in a few days more. For these reasons, it is important to study the effect
China, nowadays, fresh noodle is attracting more and more people for of other additives and methods on their antimicrobial action in fresh
its unique flavor and taste (Cai, 1998; Hou, 2001). noodles.
However, the shelf-life of fresh noodles is very short for the high Water is known to play a key role in the quality and stability of
contents of water and nutrient substances (Xu, Clifford, Wolf-Hall, & food for that it can interact with other molecules and affect their
Manthey, 2008), they will deteriorate quickly if not stored under conformation, mobility, and functionality. For half a century, scientists
refrigeration. The most common spoilage organisms in fresh noodles have realized that water activity could be much more important to the
are bacteria, followed by yeast and molds (Ray, 2001). spoilage of food than the total amount of water present, since aw is a
The short shelf-life of fresh noodles has resulted in high levels of determinant factor for the growth of microorganisms and is well
wastage in industry, and it might also be a potential source of food related with most degradation reactions of chemical, enzymatic, and
poisonings (Ghaffar, Abdulamir, Bakar, Karim, & Saari, 2009). At physical nature (Maltini, Torreggiani, Venir & Bertolol, 2003). This is a
present, a few works have already been done in order to prolong the particularly important factor for the preservation of intermediate and
shelf-life of fresh noodle products, but most of them turn to use high moisture foods like fresh noodles. Microorganisms could be
various chemical preservatives, such as potassium sorbate, sodium effectively restrained if aw is reduced to a lower level at a given water
content.
On the other hand, as a method of food preservation, irradiation
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: + 86 510 85329037; fax: + 86 510 85329037. has an excellent potential to improve food safety and extend the shelf-
E-mail address: [email protected] (K. Zhu). life (Lacroix, Ouattara, Saucier, Giroux, & Smoragiewicz, 2004). It is

1466-8564/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ifset.2011.06.005
 M. Li et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 12 (2011) 526–530 527

widely recognized as a suitable method for decontaminating food treatment, one was preliminary sterilization, that was to decrease the
products. Commercial-scale use of irradiation processing for cereal initial microbe quantity and improve efficiency of irradiation treat-
products has also been successful in several countries. It has been ment; the other was to maintain an optimal water content (about 26%)
reported that gamma irradiation doses in the range of 0.2–1.0 kGy and further lower aw of fresh noodles. The irradiation treatment was
were effective in controlling insect infestation in cereals, and carried out in Ai Bang irradiation technology company (Wuxi, Jiangsu,
increasing the doses to 5–10 kGy may totally kill the bacteria and China.). The noodles of Group H were irradiated at 0, 2, 4, 6 or 8 kGy
spores survived in cereal grains while did not adversely affect their using a 60Co source. The source strength was approximately 100 kCi
nutritional quality (Aziz, Souzan, & Azza, 2006). Cai (1998) showed with a dose rate of 1 kGy/h.
that the irradiation at 8 or 10 kGy dose could prolong the shelf-life of
fresh noodles. However, Koksel, Celik, and Tuncer (1996) reported 2.4. Determination of typical properties
that high dose of irradiation on durum wheat would impart lower
cooking and sensory scores to spaghetti. In order to reduce the Moisture content was determined by the AACC (2000) moisture
adverse impact of high dose irradiation on food quality, food procedure 44-15A. Water activity was determined using a Novasina
irradiation technology was developed to reduce the irradiation dose Thermoconstanter model Labswift-aw (Novasina, Switzerland)
and achieve mild, but reliable preservation effort by using combina- according to the manufacturer's instructions. The pH value was
tions of different preservation factors or techniques (Leistner & Gorris, determined using a pH meter (PHS-3C, Ruili Analysis Instrument
1995; Mahrour, Caillet, Nketsa-Tabiri, & Lacroix, 2003; Vachon, Yu, Company, Shanghai, China).
Yefsah, Alain, St-Gelais, & Lacroix, 2000).
For developing a novel method to prolong the store time of fresh 2.5. Determination of TPC
noodles at room temperature, the present study was undertaken to
investigate the effect of water activity lowering agents, gamma The samples were analyzed periodically during the shelf-life study.
irradiation and their combination on the shelf-life and sensory Total plate count (TPC) was examined according to GB/T 4789-2008
properties of fresh noodles. (Code of National Standard of China, 2008) with some improvement.
The sample (25 g) was put into 225 mL 0.85% aseptic physiological
2. Materials and methods saline and the mixture was shaken in a stomacher bag using a
stomacher machine (Lab-blender 400, Seward Laboratory) for 60 s.
2.1. Materials Serial dilutions were then prepared using 0.85% aseptic physiological
saline and 200 μL of the appropriate dilutions was spread plated onto
High protein wheat flour was obtained from the local market, the sterile petri plates containing plate count agar (PCA) plates, and then
contents of moisture, ash, and protein in which were 13.2%, 0.57%, and incubated at 37 °C for 48 ± 2 h.
13.1%, respectively. Glycerol (G, purity 99.9%), propylene glycol (PG,
purity 99.0%), compound phosphate (CP, sodium tripolyphosphate: 2.6. Determination of pH
sodium hexametaphosphate:sodium pyrophosphate = 5:4:3, the pu-
rity of which was all 99.9%) and salt (S) were gratefully sponsored by The sample (10 g) was homogenized in 90 mL of distilled water in a
Allied Biotech Corporation. And their adding contents in fresh noodles stomacher bag using a stomacher machine (Lab-blender 400, Seward
were shown in Table 1. Laboratory) for 60 s to get a uniform mixture. The pH value was then
measured using the pH meter.
2.2. Preparation of fresh noodles
2.7. Sensory evaluation
The noodle formula consisted of 100 g of flour and 34 mL of
distilled water. During the processing, the additives were dissolved in Sensory evaluation was carried out by 10 trained panelists using
water and then hydrated. The dough was formed using a Kitchen Aid Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA). Odor and color were used as
mixer (Kitchen Aid, St. Joseph, MI). The prepared dough was placed to characteristics of acceptability. Integral scores were given from 1 to 10
rest in a plastic bag for 20 min. Then, the dough was passed through a whereby score 10 denoted excellent quality, score 6 denoted just
small noodle machine (Mode JMTD-168/140, Beijing, China) for acceptable quality and score 1 denoted completely deteriorated
several times with the roller gap reduced gradually, to get dough quality. Final judgment was obtained by averaging the values of all the
sheets. The dimensions of the resultant noodle strands were 1 mm in experts. The samples were considered unacceptable when the mean
width and 0.7 mm in thickness. score was 5 and below.

2.3. Irradiation treatment 2.8. Statistical analysis

Both Group A and Group H (shown in Table 1) were treated for The data obtained in this study were expressed as the mean of at
4.5 min in an air oven of 110 °C. There were two objectives for this least three replicate determinations and standard deviation (SD) by

Table 1
Effect of different combinations of water activity lowering agents.

Content Group
(%)
A B C D E F G H I J

G 0 3 0 0 0 1 3 3 2 1
PG 0 2.5 0 0 1.5 1.5 2 2 2
S 0 3 1 2 3 1 2
CP 0 0 0 0.8 0.4 0.8 0.4 0.8 1.2
Aw 0.979 ± 0.007a 0.962 ± 0.007b 0.960 ± 0.00 c
0.939 ± 0.007 d
0.972 ± 0.00 e
0.944 ± 0.00 f
0.915 ± 0.007 g
0.900 ± 0.00 h
0.928 ± 0.007 i
0.920 ± 0.00 j

Results are presented as means ± standard deviations (n = 3).

Means with different small letter superscripts within the same rows are significantly different at P b 0.05.
528 M. Li et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 12 (2011) 526–530

using the software SPSS 16.0 for windows. Total plate count data were water content of 26%, aw of Group A was about 0.940 while that of
transformed into logarithms of the number of colony forming units Group H was reduced to about 0.850. In general, bacteria grow fastest
(CFU/g). P values of b0.05 were considered to be significant. when aw is over 0.91 while most yeast and molds can survive in the
range of 0.85–0.90 (Adams & Moss, 2000). Thus, at this level of aw,
3. Results and discussion almost all bacteria and some of the molds could not survive, so the
shelf-life of fresh noodles could be extended greatly by combining
3.1. Effect of water activity lowering agents with other mild methods.

Based on the results obtained in our previous study, glycerol (G), 3.2. Storage studies
propylene glycol (PG), compound phosphate (CP, sodium tripolypho-
sphate:sodium hexametaphosphate:sodium pyrophosphate = 5:4:3) 3.2.1. Microbiological changes
and salt (S) were used as the water activity lowering agents, which After high-temperature short-time treatment, the fresh noodles of
usually acted as humectants, depressing the water activity and Group A (Table 1) were used as the control, the samples with water
improving texture and mouth feel. activity lowering agents of Group H were irradiated at the above-
The effects of the selected water activity lowering agents at mentioned doses. Then all the samples were placed in a Thermostatic-
different amounts on fresh noodles were shown in Table 1. The results Constant Moisture Incubator at 37 °C to accelerate the process of
indicated that all the groups could significantly reduce aw of fresh spoilage. In this study, the TPC, pH value, and sensory quality of the
noodles (P b 0.05), which was similar to their effects on other foods like fresh noodles were investigated during the storage time.
juices, jams and jellies (Gliemmo, Campos, & Gerschenson, 2006). According to the report of Ghaffar et al. (2009) and Lacroix et al.
Lombard, Weinert, Minnaar, and Taylor (2000) also reported that (2004), the level of 10 6 CFU/g in fresh noodles was considered as the
glycerol at the concentrations of 150 and 180 g/kg flour could produce cutoff point between spoiled and unspoiled (level of incipient
aw levels of 0.908 and 0.880 in South African Steamed Bread spoilage), the analysis of the sample was terminated when the TPC
respectively, which were sufficient to inhibit C. botulinum, yeast and was over 10 6 CFU/g. The changes of TPC for different treatments
molds in the products, while aw of the control was 0.970. The results during storage were shown in Fig. 2, initial TPC for Groups A and H
also showed that the combinations of different water activity lowering was 2.1 × 10 2 and 2.5 × 10 2 CFU/g, respectively. As can be seen, the
agents were more effective than single ones, which coincided with the control group (A) quickly deteriorated, whose TPC was over
report of Gliemmo et al. (2006). As presented in Table 1, Group H (3% 10 6 CFU/g immediately after two days. The samples of Group H
glycerol, 2% propylene glycol, 0.4% compound phosphate and 3% salt) without irradiation (0 dose) reached 10 5 CFU/g after 10 days, and
was the most effective combination in this study, which significantly then 10 6 CFU/g after 16 days. It was thought that lower aw, as an
reduced the aw from 0.979 (Control) to 0.900. existing antimicrobial technique employed to preserve foods, could
Sometimes, as different ingredients were added to traditional prolong the shelf-life of fresh noodles to a large extent. Lombard et al.
formulations, the water content of food was easily affected, so it was (2000) also reported that reducing aw was the most effective method
difficult to determine if the decrease in aw was due to the reduction of in preservation of South African Steamed Bread.
water content in fresh noodles (Farahnaky, Ansari & Majzoobi, 2009). In addition, as shown in Fig. 2, gamma irradiation treatment of
In addition, it was also difficult to get two kinds of food with exactly fresh noodles produced an immediate and a dose dependent
the same water content or aw. As a result, the comparison of aw was inhibition of bacterial growth, which concurred with the report of
quite difficult. Under this circumstance, in order to determine if the aw Lacroix et al. (2004) for ground beef. All the irradiated groups showed
was truly reduced at the same water content after our modulation, the a very strong microbiological stability except the group of 2 kGy with
water sorption isotherms of Group A and H (Table 1) were built a slight proliferation. When the irradiation dose was 4 kGy or even
respectively at room temperature (shown in Fig. 1). higher, the TPC values of the fresh noodles were still less than
Sorption isotherm is an extremely important tool in food science 100 CFU/g at the end of the storage time, which would meet the
that describes the relationship between water content and water industrial requirement. Moreover, the samples irradiated at 6 kGy and
activity. It was found in Fig. 1 that the curve of Group H was obviously 8 kGy showed almost the same preservation effect. Compared with
above that of Group A, that is to say, when given the same water the report of Cai (1998), the effective irradiation dose to preserve
content, aw of Group H was much lower than that of Group A. Previous fresh noodles found in this study was much lower, indicating that the
reports had indicated that fresh noodles could exhibit excellent flavor, combination of reduced aw and gamma irradiation showed an obvious
color and texture at the moisture of 25%–28%. In this study, at the synergistic effect, which could reduce the required irradiation dose.
These results were also similar with the reports of Mahrour, et al.
35.00 (2003), who reduced the irradiation dose for complete elimination of
Salmonella on fresh poultry by combining gamma irradiation and
30.00

25.00 8
Water Content (%)

7
TPC/logCFU/g

20.00 6
5
15.00 4
3
10.00
2
5.00 1
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
0.00
0.000 0.200 0.400 0.600 0.800 1.000 Storage time/day
Aw
Fig. 2. Changes of TPC in fresh noodles during storage time. The TPC that is less than
Fig. 1. Water sorption isotherms of Group A and Group H. Group A means the control 100 CFU/g was recognized as 100 CFU/g. , Group A; , Group H; ,
without additives; Group H represents samples with the most effective combination of Irradiated at 2 kGy; , Irradiated at 4 kGy , Irradiated at 6 kGy; , Irradiated
water activity lowering agents. , Group A; , Group H. at 8 kGy.
 M. Li et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 12 (2011) 526–530 529

6.6
3.2.3. Sensory analysis
6.5
6.4 Besides microbial population and pH changes, sensory quality
6.3 showed the storage effect (Table 2). According to the study of
pH value

6.2 Arvanitoyannis and Traikou (2005), sensory characteristics could be

6.1 the main spoilage indicator in noodles. Odor and color were chosen in
6
this study as spoilage indicators for shelf-life determination, since
5.9
5.8 they were the two most important characteristics perceived by
5.7 panelists and consumers, compared with other attributes (Ghaffar
5.6 et al., 2009). Growth of microorganisms in foods causes spoilage by
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
producing an unacceptable change in taste, odor, appearance, texture
Storage time/day
and combination of any of these factors (Jensen, Hocking, & Miskelly,
Fig. 3. Changes of pH in fresh noodles during storage time. , Group A; , 2004). For that, as shown in Table 2, the sensory scores (overall
Group H; , Irradiated at 2 kGy; , Irradiated at 4 kGy , Irradiated at 6 kGy; acceptability) of Group A decreased rapidly in the first few days.
, Irradiated at 8 kGy. Compared with the non-irradiated noodles, the color of fresh noodles
after irradiated at 2–8 kGy became light yellow and then deeper with
natural plant extract; and Kwon and Byun (1995), who reported that the increase of absorbed dose, which coincided with the report of Cai
irradiation at or less than 5 kGy combined with NY/PE film packaging (1998). It is well known that irradiation can cause several changes in
could decrease the rancidity and browning of stored dried anchovies. lipids and proteins by forming radiolytic products, which can decrease
However, along with the extending of storage time, water in fresh the sensory properties of food products (Chen et al., 2007; Lacroix
noodles escaped gradually (possibly due to the permeation through et al., 2000).
the packaging material), resulting in a slightly drier surface, so the However, with the increase of storage time, the sensory quality of
determination was stopped at the end of 16th day. the irradiated noodles was all better than that of the non-irradiated
ones. The results indicated that irradiation had a good effect for
preservation of fresh noodles. The noodles irradiated at 4 kGy were
3.2.2. pH changes the best ones among all the irradiated noodles. This result could be
The pH changes in fresh noodles during storage were shown in explained by that larger irradiation dose could damage, even kill part
Fig. 3. It was found that the pH values of all the groups showed a of cells, and lower irradiation dose could not effectively control the
continuous drop, the initial pH values for noodles of Group A and microbial population (Lu, Yu, Gao, Lu & Zhang, 2005). Therefore, the
Group H were 6.21 and 6.48 respectively, which were quite suitable preservation effects of irradiation with 2 kGy and 8 kGy was worse
for bacteria propagation (Adams & Moss, 2000). The pH value of than that of the irradiated ones with 4 kGy and 6 kGy.
Group H decreased more slowly than that of Group A. And moreover, a
significant (P b 0.01) correlation (R 2 = 0.9928) was observed between 4. Conclusions
the pH value and TPC for the non-irradiated samples, it was suggested
that the type of spoilage in fresh noodles was mainly fermentative. Effect of reduced water activity (aw) and irradiation treatment on
The pH changes in foods due to the activity of microorganisms are prolonging the shelf-life of fresh noodles was discussed in this paper.
common, especially in food rich in both carbohydrates and proteins, Results suggested that reducing aw could be considered a very suitable
microorganisms will usually utilize carbohydrates, produce acids and method for preserving fresh noodles as it did not produce any
reduce pH. negative changes in sensory attributes.
On the other hand, after irradiation, the pH values of the samples In addition, data recorded in the present study also showed that
all dropped to some extent, which could be attributed to the effect of combination of the two treatments showed an obvious synergistic
irradiation instead of microorganisms. A lot of work had confirmed effect under the optimal conditions, the shelf-life of fresh noodles
that the progress of lipid oxidation and oxidative rancidity could be could be extended to a large extent.
accelerated by irradiation, leading to a slight change in color and odor Results in this study also highlighted that irradiation showed
(Chen, Zhou, Zhu, Xu, Tang, & Gao, 2007; Lacroix et al., 2004). The lipid strong disinfection potential even at low dose, but at the same time,
oxidation was attributed to the combination of free radicals with O2 to high dose treatment resulted in bad sensory qualities. In view of this,
form hydroperoxides (Lacroix et al., 2004). However, there were no the best irradiation dose of 4 kGy was introduced in this study.
significant differences from Day 2 to Day 10 for all the irradiated
samples, the pH value of 2 kGy group dropped faster than that of Acknowledgement
4 kGy during storage, for its slight microbe proliferation. At the end of
storage, the pH values of samples of 4 and 6 kGy group were This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for
significantly (P b 0.05) higher compared to other groups. the Central Universities (JUSRP10922). The authors would like to

Table 2
Sensory quality of fresh noodles.

Dose (kGy) Group Overall acceptability score

Day 0 Day 1 Day 2 Day 4 Day 10 Day 16

a b c d
0 A 9.3 ± 0.48 6.1 ± 0.78 4.1 ± 0.78 1.3 ± 0.48 – –
a a a a b c
H 9.8 ± 0.42 9.7 ± 0.48 9.6 ± 0.52 9.1 ± 0.57 7.2 ± 0.63 5.2 ± 0.63
a a b b c d
2 H 9.3 ± 0.48 9.3 ± 0.42 8.3 ± 0.48 8.2 ± 0.42 7.3 ± 0.48 6.2 ± 0.42
a a a a a b
4 H 9.3 ± 0.48 9.2 ± 0.42 9.2 ± 0.42 9.1 ± 0.32 9.1 ± 0.57 8.3 ± 0.48
a a a b b c
6 H 8.3 ± 0.48 8.1 ± 0.57 7.9 ± 0.57 7.1 ± 0.57 6.8 ± 0.63 6.1 ± 0.57
a b b b b b
8 H 7.2 ± 0.42 6.2 ± 0.42 6.1 ± 0.57 6.0 ± 0.47 5.9 ± 0.32 5.7 ± 0.48

Results are presented as means ± standard deviations (n = 10).

Means with different small letter superscripts within the same rows are significantly different at P b 0.05.
530 M. Li et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 12 (2011) 526–530

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