Effects of innovative and conventional sanitizing treatments on the reduction of Saccharomycopsis fibuligera defects on industrial durum wheat bread

• Only Saccharomycopsis fibuligera strains were isolated from spoiled MAP wheat bread.
• Environmental temperature and bread humidity allowed the growth of spoilage yeasts.
• Hydrogen peroxide/silver (HPS) solution was used for sanitation of production areas.
• Efficacy of HPS was compared to conventional OrthoPhenylPhenol fumigation.
• S. fibuligera spoilage was significantly reduced by the new sanitizing procedure.

Wickerhamomyces anomalus, Hyphopichia burtonii and Saccharomycopsis fibuligera are spoilage yeasts causing chalk mold defects on sliced bread packaged under modified atmosphere. The first objective of this study, carried out in a bread-making company for two consecutive years, was to genetically identify yeasts isolated from spoiled sliced bread in Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) and to determine the dominant species among identified strains. The second objective was to evaluate the effects of hydrogen peroxide and silver solution 12% (HPS) treatment in the leavening cells and cooling chambers, in comparison with the conventional Ortho-Phenylphenol (OPP) fumigating treatment, on the incidence of chalk defects of the commercialized products. One-hundred percent of the isolated yeasts were identified as S. fibuligera, while H. burtonii and W. anomalus were not detected. Concerning mean water activity (aw) and moisture content values, packaged bread samples were, respectively, included in the range 0.922–0.940 and 33.40–35.39%. S. fibuligera was able to grow in a wide range of temperature (11.5 to 28.5 °C) and relative humidity (70.00 to 80.17%) in the processing environments, and product aw < 0.94. Compared to OPP, the combined treatment with hydrogen peroxide and silver solution, in association with MAP, reduced to a negligible level yeast contamination of industrial sliced bread. The identification of the spoilage organisms and a comprehensive understanding of the combined effects of aw, pO2/pCO2 inside the packages, environmental conditions and sanitizing treatment on the growth behaviour is essential for future development of adequate preventive process strategies against chalk mold defects.