This study was conducted to establish effective reduction strategy during the
manufacturing process of rice cakes. Simple washing (3 times) and ultrasonic
washing (40 kHz, 10 min) were used in the rice washing process, and sodium
hypochlorite (100 ppm, 5 min) and chlorine dioxide (20 ppm, 5 min) were used as
chemical disinfectants. Combination treatment using ultrasonic washing and the
two chemical disinfectants was also performed. The chemical disinfectants were
more effective than the ultrasonic cleaning in a single treatment of each
method, and sodium hypochlorite showed a greater reduction effect than chlorine
dioxide. The combination treatment using both chemical disinfectant and
ultrasonic cleaning was found to be more effective than using a single
treatment, and no significant difference was observed in the results based on
the disinfectant used. During the heating process, which is an important control
point of HACCP system, total aerobic bacteria, coliforms, Bacillus
cereus and Escherichia coli were inactivated. UV
sterilization (30 min, 60 min) was applied as the nonthermal treatment and
compared with the general drying method (5, 12 h) during the cooling process of
rice cakes. No bacteria were not found after the treatment, whereas the total
number of bacteria in the naturally dried rice cakes increased after 12 h,
indicating the potential of UV sterilization as an important control point
during the cooling process of rice cakes.