The sample was blended until fine particles were obtained. Serial dilutions were then prepared and plating was done as above. One hundred and forty pounds of fresh cilantro was necessary to produce 11.0 lbs. A general trend for microbial growth on cilantro is seen in this figure. Raw cilantro contains fairly high counts of bacteria.
Washing reduces the bacterial load as does soaking in citric acid.
However, microbial counts increase for chopped cilantro. This can be attributed to production personnel not wearing gloves during the chopping phase. All cilantro was chopped by hand. Figure 2 shows the results of the coliform plating. The counts for the dehydrated product are also greatly reduced.