Effect of acidic electrolyzed water on the microbial counts in shredded vegetables (Part III) - Effect of combined physical supplementary means on the washing and disinfections

Abstract

It has been shown that acidic electrolyzed water was effective in the surface disinfection of shredded vegetables. In the treatment shredded vegetables were simply soaked in acidic electrolyzed water so far. In this research, in the disinfection of shredded vegetables by acidic electrolyzed water, the effectiveness of physical supplementary means used together was examined. Combined use of the physical supplementary means and acidic electrolyzed water did not contribute to disinfection. However, the physical supplementary means was shown to be considerably effective when vegetables were washed with alkaline electrolyzed water by physical supplementary means and then disinfected in acidic electrolyzed water by the physical supplementary means. This effect was remarkable on cucumbers, but little on lettuces and cabbages. Stirring was most effective among the supplementary means used. It was found out that five minutes each of washing and disinfecting was necessary for high disinfectant effect on cucumbers. Moreover, it was suggested that the effect of stirring was more effective than that of pretreatment of alkaline electrolyzed water on cucumber disinfection.