Antimicrobial efficacy of household sanitizers against artificially inoculated Salmonella on ready-to-eat spinach (Spinacia oleracea)
2019
Kilonzo-Nthenge, Agnes | Liu, Siqin
Due to health concerns regarding the microbiological safety of fresh produce, consumers frequently wash fresh produce before consumption. Household sanitizers including tap water, vinegar (5.0, 1.5, 1.0%), baking soda, commercial wash, and bleach solutions were evaluated for their effectiveness in reducing counts of Salmonella enterica on spinach leaves. Treatments were carried out at 23 °C for 2 min. An online survey was also conducted in different parts of the United States to collect information on consumers’ practices of washing produce with common household sanitizers. A significantly higher (p < 0.05) bacteria reduction (1.95–2.19 log CFU/g) was achieved using chlorine solution (200 ppm) when compared with other treatments (0.01–1.64 log CFU/g). Running tap water physically reduced bacteria on spinach by 1.52–1.62 log CFU/g. Vinegar solutions at 5, 1.5, and 1.0% promoted reductions of 1.56–1.64, 1.01–1.12, and 0.9–1.02 log CFU/g, respectively. Notably, none of the household sanitizers were capable of entirely removing Salmonella on spinach leaves. With exclusion of chlorinated water and 5% vinegar solution, Salmonella was present in all spend solutions. Our survey showed that three washing solutions were most commonly used by consumers; rubbing produce under running tap water (54.3%), holding produce under running tap water (53.5%), and soaking produce in water (32.9%). Bleached water was the least applied household sanitizer (0.59%). Based on the results of the present work, household sanitizers do not guarantee the complete inactivation of pathogenic bacteria on leafy produce, particularly Salmonella on spinach.
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