LAUSR

Abstract The disinfection efficacy of slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) has been recognized in food industry. However, the application of single SAEW limited its disinfection potential. The efficacy of the two-step disinfection with SAEW for the reduction of L. monocytogenes contamination on different food raw materials was evaluated compared to the one-step disinfection with SAEW in this study. Results demonstrated that SAEW could reduce both the natural aerobic bacterial count and inoculated L. monocytogenes population on endive and chicken immediately after processing and SAEW with approximately 60 mg/L of available chlorine concentration (ACC) had equal or higher antibacterial efficacy compared to NaClO solutions with approximately 150 mg/L of ACC. Moreover, SAEW treatments could control the growth of microbial populations of L. monocytogenes during storage and the efficacy on the microbial reduction was associated to the initial populations. In addition, the SAEW-treated food raw materials were stored and disinfected again after storage and the results showed that the two-step disinfection method could decrease the survival populations of L. monocytogenes by 24.8%∼99.6% compared to the one-step disinfection of SAEW. Therefore, considering storage habits, the two-step disinfection of SAEW may be a better choice in the disinfection of non-consumed-directly food raw materials.