Abstract
Washing soft fresh produce such as strawberries, baby leaves, and sliced onions with sanitizing agents is challenging due to their fragile texture. Thus, treatments like aerosolization using slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) and ultraviolet C light-emitting diode (UVC LED) irradiation may be good alternatives. In the present study, the reduction effects of a combined treatment of aerosolization using SAEW and UVC LED irradiation on enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) and Staphylococcus aureus attached to strawberries, baby leaves, and sliced onions were investigated. The behaviours of EHEC and S. aureus, moisture loss, colour measurement, and visual appearance were also analyzed at 10 and 15 °C for 7 days. The reduction effect of the combined treatment with 100 SAEW and UVC LED was higher (0.53–0.92 log CFU g−1) than a single aerosolization treatment (0.11–0.41 log CFU g−1), regardless of samples or pathogens. A greater effect on EHEC and S. aureus reduction was observed in strawberries (0.74 and 0.92 log CFU g−1) than in baby leaves (0.62 and 0.53 log CFU g−1) and sliced onions (0.55 and 0.62 log CFU g−1). The combined treatment further reduced the EHEC and S. aureus populations in strawberries during 7 days of storage at 10 and 15 °C. However, the EHEC and S. aureus populations were maintained in baby leaves and sliced onions at 10 °C for 7 days. Additionally, the greatest effect on the maintenance of colour and appearance was obtained in the combined treatment. Since the combined treatment reduces EHEC and S. aureus populations and preserves visual quality, it could be expected to extend the shelf life of soft fresh produce at the retailer stage of the supply chain.
Highlights
The fresh-cut produce market has increased drastically to meet consumer demand for healthy and ready-to-eat foods
The effects of aerosolization with 60 slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW), 100 SAEW, or 100 NaClO and combined treatment of 100 SAEW and ultraviolet C light-emitting diode (UVC LED) on the reduction in Escherichia coli (EHEC) and S. aureus attached to strawberries, baby leaves, and sliced onions were compared (Figure 1)
The highest reduction (0.34–0.55 log CFU g−1) of EHEC populations was observed after treatment with 100 SAEW, followed by that with 100 NaClO (0.24–0.33 log CFU g−1) and 60 ppm of slightly acidic electrolyzed water (60 SAEW) treatment (0.14–0.26 log CFU g−1) (Figure 1a)
Summary
The fresh-cut produce market has increased drastically to meet consumer demand for healthy and ready-to-eat foods. The market for meal kits is on the rise, since the meal kit industry was valued at 4.65 billion US dollars in 2017, representing a 300% growth in the United States [2]. Both fresh-cut produce and some meal kit products consist of various vegetables that can be consumed as non-processed produce. S. aureus was detected in 1 out of 181 baby-leaf vegetables (0.6%) [8], four out of 60 tomatoes (6.7%), one out of 60 mandarins (1.7%) [9], six out of 390 fresh ready-to-eat food (1.5%) [10], one out of 150 lettuces (0.7%), two out of 150 cabbages (1.3%), and one out of 150 celeries (0.7%) [11]
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