BRINE

The study microbial analysis of a mixed fruit juice sample using brine as the preservative was carried with the aim of producing mixed fruit juice from the extracted juices of watermelon and pineapple, and also to determine the effect of different rations of brine solution in preserving the produced mixed fruit juice. The fruit juice from the watermelon and orange was extracted using the pressing and filtration technique while the mixed fruit juice was prepared by mixing different rations of orange and watermelon (80:20), orange and watermelon (30:70) and orange and watermelon (60:40). The brine solution was prepared by using different rations (10:90, 20:80, 40:60 and 60:40) of sodium chloride and calcium chlorides respectively. The effect of the different rations of the brine solutions on the microbiological and physiological properties of the mixed fruit juices was done using standard laboratory procedures. The overall acceptability of the different mixed fruit juices after day 7 of the experiment was found to be 45%, 35% and 70% for the orange and watermelon (80:20), orange and watermelon (30:70) and orange and watermelon (60:40) respectively. The results of the effect of the different concentration of the brine solutions for the preservation of the different rations of the extracted juice showed that mixtures ration orange and watermelon (60:40) was more stable in terms of microbial growth on the juice while the pH of the different juice rations was found to be slightly neutral at day 0 of the experiment and then acidic at day 7 of the experiment. The results of the effect of the different brine solutions on the microbial count of the juice mixture recorded no microbial growth in any of the treatments at day 7 of the experiment. This was attributed to the increased acidity of the juice at day 7 of the experiment. Findings from this study has shown that the juice mixture orange and watermelon (60:40) was found to be more stable in terms of the sensory, physiological and microbiological evaluation