Efficacy of chlorine dioxide gas as a sanitizer for tanks used for aseptic juice storage

Han, Y.; Guentert, A.M.; Smith, R.S.; Linton, R.H.; Nelson, P.E.

Efficacy of chlorine dioxide gas as a sanitizer for tanks used for aseptic juice storage

1999

Han, Y. | Guentert, A.M. | Smith, R.S. | Linton, R.H. | Nelson, P.E.

An aseptic tank model system was used to study the efficacy of chlorine dioxide (ClO2) gas as a potential sanitizing agent for commercial epoxy-lined juice storage tanks. Selected spoilage micro-organisms (Lactobacillus buchneri, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Eurotium spp., Penicillium spp, Candida spp. and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) were surface inoculated on to epoxy-coated stainless steel strips, placed in the model tank and subjected to different ClO2 gas treatments. The varied treatment conditions consisted of 2-14 mg l-1 ClO2 gas, 50-98% relative humidity, 5-120 min exposure time, and temperatures ranging from 9-31 degrees C. L. buchneri was used as the target micro-organism and was found to be most resistant to selected ClO2 gas treatments, followed by L. mesenteroides, followed by the yeasts and molds studied. Inactivation of L. buchneri and L. mesenteroides increased with greater concentration of ClO2 gas, higher holding temperature, higher relative humidity, and more exposure time. Under the conditions of this study, all the selected micro-organisms could be completely inactivated, resulting in a sterilized surface. The recommended treatments for assuring sterility were 10 mg l-1 ClO2 gas for an exposure time of 30 min coupled with (a) high relative humidity (> 90%) and holding temperatures between 9 and 28 degrees C, or (b) high holding temperatures (25-28 degrees C) and relative humidity above 69%.

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