Decontamination of Salmonella Enteritidis on Eggshell: Assessment of Efficiency of a Bacteriophage and Levulinic Acid-Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate

Abstract

The majority of food infections caused by consumption of egg and egg products are caused by Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Enteritidis. In this study, the inhibitory effect against S. Enteritidis was determined by dipping the eggshell into Salmonella-specific bacteriophage SE-P47 and levulinic acid (LVA) plus sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) solutions (0.5% LVA+0.05% SDS, 1% LVA+0.05% SDS and 2% LVA+0.5% SDS) separately for 10 minutes. The treatments of phage and 2% LVA+0.5% SDS reduced S. Enteritidis below the detectable level on eggshell (at 2.76, 3.22, 4.48 and 5.30 log CFU/cm2 inoculum levels). After the treatment of 1% LVA+0.05% SDS, 1.94 and 0.89 log reductions were obtained at 4.48 and 5.30 log CFU/cm2 inoculum levels, respectively, while S. Enteritidis decreased below the detectable number at 2.76, 3.22 log CFU/cm2 inoculum levels. Although the lowest antibacterial activity was observed in the treatment of 0.5% LVA+%0.05 SDS, the decrease in the number of S. Enteritidis detected in all samples except 5.30 log CFU/cm2 inoculum level was found to be significant compared to the control sample. The results indicated that the combination of LVA and SDS, and especially SE-P47 phage alone had good potential efficacy for Salmonella decontamination on eggshell.