## 3 Results and Discussion
### Evaluation of Total Enterobacteriaceae in Raw Peppers and Culinary Products During Storage
statistically significant (\(p\) = 0.001) effect on the Enterobacteriaceae counts in the raw peppers throughout the storage period. The Enterobacteriaceae counts on the last day of storage in the raw peppers (control) were for ATM and VAC--2 log CFU/g, while for MAP--3.80 log CFU/g. After the sous vide treatment of the peppers at 30 min/60 \({}^{\circ}\)C, Enterobacteriaceae were identified only in the MAP-packed products, and their counts were 2.52 log CFU/g on day 6 and 3.02 log CFU/g on day 18, and these results were not statistically significantly different (\(p\) = 0.705). Enterobacteriaceae were not observed in the other culinary products or their numbers were below the limit of detection threshold (1 log CFU/g). On the first day of storage of the 15 min/70 \({}^{\circ}\)C peppers, no Enterobacteriaceae were identified or their numbers were below the limit of detection threshold (1 log CFU/g). Regardless of the packaging methods, the Enterobacteriaceae counts throughout the storage period ranged from 2.48 log CFU/g to 3.34 log CFU/g, and the differences were not statistically significant (\(p\) = 0.977). After the treatment of the culinary products at 8 min/80 \({}^{\circ}\)C, Enterobacteriaceae were identified in the products obtained on the 15 th, 18 th, and 21 st day of storage only for MAP packaging, and their counts were, respectively, 3.93; 3.30; and 3.91 log CFU/g. No statistically significant differences (\(p\) = 0.805) were observed between the MAP culinary products during storage. The assessment of the microbiological status in terms of Enterobacteriaceae contamination in the peppers and their products is not widely reported in scientific papers. However, [PERSON] et al. [41] found that peppers may contain unacceptable levels of Enterobacteriaceae, mainly related to inappropriate cultivation practices. They may also be contaminated with human pathogens both during harvesting and at later stages of distribution and technological processing. However, these bacteria could be reduced through good food preparation/processing practices in the food chain. Evaluation of the Total Number of Microscopic Filamentous Fungi in Raw Peppers and Culinary Products During Storage  
Table 4 shows the results of the total number of microscopic filamentous fungi (MFF) for the raw peppers and culinary peppers packed in an unaltered atmosphere (ATM), vacuum (VAC), and modified gas atmosphere (MAP). The packaging and storage time method significantly affected (\(p\) < 0.001) the number of MFF in the raw products. The MFFcounts of the ATM and VAC raw peppers were 2.15-2.24 log CFU/g on the first day and increased to 4.43-4.44 log CFU/g on the last 6 days of storage. In contrast, on the first day of storage of the MAP raw peppers, the MFF abundance was below the limit of detection level (1 log CFU/g), and on day 9, their number increased to 3.85 log CFU/g. The number of MFF in green peppers, according to [PERSON] et al. [32], was 3.36 \(\pm\) 0.04 log CFU/g on the first day, increasing during storage to about 4.5 log CFU/g on day 6 of refrigerated storage, a value similar to our own study. Also, in the study by [PERSON] et al. [42], results similar to those of MFF contamination were obtained. The authors cited tested square-cut peppers packed in nitrogen on days 1, 4, and 8 of refrigerated storage at 4 \({}^{\circ}\)C, obtaining values of 2.33 log CFU/g, 2.52 log CFU/g, and 3.18 log CFU/g, respectively. On the other hand, slightly higher results for MFF populations were found by [PERSON] et al. [33], as in sliced green peppers the mentioned microorganisms showed 4.58 \(\pm\) 0.22 log CFU/g on the first day of refrigerated storage at 4 \({}^{\circ}\)C, after which their numbers increased to 5.40 \(\pm\) 0.48 log CFU/g on day 6. In all the temperature variants, the sous vide heat treatment method did not cause statistically significant changes in MFF abundance during storage, regardless of the packaging method.