Effect of Storage Temperature Towards Physicochemical and Microbial Properties of Plant-Based Cheese Sauce at PT. Organik Adil Sejahtera (Green Rebel)

Abstract

PT. Organik Adil Sejahtera (Green Rebel) is a branch company of Indonesia leading plant-based eatery chain, focused on providing demand from B2B and for ready-to-cook frozen meals. Responsible for products’ quality, QC/QA department monitors the process starting from incoming raw material inspection, base and product organoleptic testing, until complaint and CAPA filing. GMP audit and assisting pest monitoring also included to maintain standard. All these activities were allowed to learn from as an intern. Recently launched, plant-based cheese sauce (PBCS) acquired constant order. Limited freezer space provided cause possibility observation in alternative storage of chilled temperature (4℃) with consideration of reducing expense on storage. PBCS physicochemical stability (pH, Aw, viscosity, and color) and microbial analysis were performed to assess stability in possible chilled storage (4℃) as compared to frozen stored samples at -18 ℃. Water activity and viscosity were hardly affected by storage temperature in the PBCS sample as both samples remained stable for two months. However, significant differences (p<0.05) are observed in pH and color parameters. Microbial analysis based on peraturan BPOM no.13 tahun 2019 provided results within the standard. Major limitation of this experiment is the failure of maintaining storage temperature for both samples, hence, possibility of significant differences in pH and color is inconclusive.