Food microbiology 50 (2015): 102-108

Abstract:

In the present study, we evaluated the antimicrobial activity of neutral electrolyzed water (NEW) against14 strains of spoilage Pseudomonas of fresh cut vegetables under cold storage. The NEW, produced fromsolutions of potassium and sodium chloride, and sodium bicarbonate developed up to 4000 mg/L of freechlorine, depending on the salt and relative concentration used. The antimicrobial effect of the NEW wasevaluated against different bacterial strains at 105cells/ml, with different combinations of free chlorineconcentration/contact time; all concentrations above 100 mg/L, regardless of the salt used, were found tobe bactericidal already after 2 min. When catalogna chicory and lettuce leaves were dipped for 5 min indiluted NEW, microbial loads of mesophilic bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae were reduced on average of1.7 log cfu/g. In addition, when lettuce leaves were dipped in a cellular suspension of the spoiler Pseu-domonas chicorii I3C strain, diluted NEW was able to reduce Pseudomonas population of about 1.0 log cfu/g. Thanks to its high antimicrobial activity against spoilage microorganisms, and low cost of operation,the application of cycles of electrolysis to the washing water looks as an effective tool in controlling freshcut vegetable microbial spoilage contamination occurring during washing steps.

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