Decontaminative effect of frozen acidic electrolyzed water on lettuce

• Published in: Journal of food protection Vol. 65; no. 2; pp. 411 - 414
• Main Authors: KOSEKI, Shigenobu, FUJIWARA, Kazuhiro, ITOH, Kazuhiko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Des Moines, IA International Association of Milk, Food and Environmental Sanitarians 01.02.2002
• Subjects: Bacteria, Aerobic - drug effects; Bacteria, Aerobic - growth & development; Biological and medical sciences; Chlorine - pharmacology; Colony Count, Microbial; Disinfectants - pharmacology; Electrolysis; Food Handling - methods; Food industries; Food microbiology; Freezing; Fruit and vegetable industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Handling, storage, packaging, transport; Lactuca - microbiology; Water; Lettuce; Temperature; Vegetables; Microbiological testing; Decontamination; Chlorine; Warehousing; Aqueous electrolysis; Antimicrobial agent; Acidic solution; Sodium Chlorides
• ISSN: 0362-028X; 1944-9097
• DOI: 10.4315/0362-028x-65.2.411

We investigated the effects of frozen acidic electrolyzed water (AcEW) on lettuce during storage in a styrene-foam container. The lettuce was kept at 2 to 3 degrees C for 24 h. Populations of aerobic bacteria associated with lettuce packed in frozen AcEW were reduced by 1.5 log CFU/g after storage for 24 h. With frozen tap water, no microorganism populations tested in this study were reduced. A frozen mixture of AcEW and alkaline electrolyzed water (AlEW) also failed to reduce populations of microorganisms associated with lettuce. Although chlorine gas was produced by frozen AcEW, it was not produced by the AcEW-AlEW mixture. This result indicates that the main factor in the decontaminative effect of frozen AcEW was the production of chlorine gas. Accordingly, low-temperature storage and decontamination could be achieved simultaneously with frozen AcEW during distribution.