Abstract
Slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) has been recently proposed as a novel promising sanitizer and cleaner in the agricultural and food industries. However, several factors, including water hardness, were considered to strongly affect the physical properties and sanitization efficacy of SAEW. To study the effect of water hardness on the SAEW production, we evaluated the production properties and sanitization effect of SAEW, which was generated from water sources in 16 representatively geographical locations of South Korea. The results showed that the hardness of water sources from Kangwon-do, Jeollanam-do, and Daegu was 22–41 ppm; that from Busan, Gyeongnam-do, Gwangju Bukgu was 80–443 ppm, and that from seven other locations was 41–79 ppm. SAEW is produced from water hardness less than 50 ppm and greater than 80 ppm was beyond the accepted pH range (5.0–6.5). Notably, high-hardness water (>80 ppm) containing 5% HCl could be used to produce SAEW with accepted pH. The SAEW generated from low-hardness water with additions of 2% HCl and 2 M NaCl at 7 A showed accepted pH and higher germicidal effect. Furthermore, SAEW with the available chlorine concentration of 27–41 mg/L for 1 min was sufficient to completely inactivate non–spore-forming foodborne pathogens. Sanitization efficacy was not markedly affected by storage conditions for SAEW at 40 ppm. Our results demonstrated that the degree of water hardness is an important factor in the production of SAEW, which would provide a foundation for commercial application of SAEW.
Highlights
Foodborne disease refers to any illness caused by contaminated food spoiled by pathogenic bacteria, parasites, and viruses (Adley and Ryan, 2016; Fung et al, 2018)
We investigated the relationship between available chlorine concentration (ACC) and pH of electrolyzed water (EW), generated from water samples with different hardness (Figure 1)
Nakdong River is the largest river in South Korea, and its downstream area passes through Gyeongsang provinces and Busan city (Kim et al, 2021)
Summary
Foodborne disease refers to any illness caused by contaminated food spoiled by pathogenic bacteria, parasites, and viruses (Adley and Ryan, 2016; Fung et al, 2018). Water Hardness and SAEW and food industries Numerous commercial sanitizers, such as physical technology (ozone), chemical technology (chlorine compounds and peroxide mixtures), and biological technology (essential oil), have been used as disinfection agents throughout the food supply chain (Aslam et al, 2021; da Costa Lima and de Souza, 2021; Jones et al, 2021). Some of these technologies in the food industries are not entirely acceptable because of their disadvantages, including chemical residues, limited inactivation, adverse effects on food quality, and potential toxicity to human beings or the environment (Marshall et al, 2020). It is urgent to develop safe and effective disinfectants in the food industries
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