Articles
Ensuring the safety of fresh-cut produce using electrolyzed oxidizing water
Article number
1319_20
Pages
171 – 178
Language
English
Abstract
Food-borne illness incidences have been on the rise in recent years with a substantial number being linked to fresh produce contamination.
Electrolyzed oxidizing (EO) water is a solution generated by passing a dilute salt solution (NaCl and KCl are commonly used) through an electrolytic cell.
The anode side of an electrolytic cell, from which acidic EO water is obtained, produces various chlorine compounds and ions such as hypochlorous acid (HOCl), hypochlorite ion (OCl–) and chlorine gas (Cl2), which are all collectively known as free chlorine.
HOCl is the main antimicrobial agent present in EO water.
The present of hypochlorous acid (typically around 40-50 mg L-1) in EO water and high oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) make it an effective and safe antimicrobial agent.
Many studies have been reported in the literature on the efficacy of EO water to inactivate foodborne pathogens either directly from produce or sanitize the water used for washing produce.
However, different study may have different experiment design factors like type of produce, pathogen of interest, procedure for inoculation, procedure for evaluating test condition, procedure for pathogen retrieval, unit for reporting results and make the comparison of different studies difficult.
The aim of this report is to give an overview on the application of EO water to help ensure the safety of fresh produce and demonstrate how meta-analysis can be used as a tool to compare different EO water produce sanitization efficacy studies.
Electrolyzed oxidizing (EO) water is a solution generated by passing a dilute salt solution (NaCl and KCl are commonly used) through an electrolytic cell.
The anode side of an electrolytic cell, from which acidic EO water is obtained, produces various chlorine compounds and ions such as hypochlorous acid (HOCl), hypochlorite ion (OCl–) and chlorine gas (Cl2), which are all collectively known as free chlorine.
HOCl is the main antimicrobial agent present in EO water.
The present of hypochlorous acid (typically around 40-50 mg L-1) in EO water and high oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) make it an effective and safe antimicrobial agent.
Many studies have been reported in the literature on the efficacy of EO water to inactivate foodborne pathogens either directly from produce or sanitize the water used for washing produce.
However, different study may have different experiment design factors like type of produce, pathogen of interest, procedure for inoculation, procedure for evaluating test condition, procedure for pathogen retrieval, unit for reporting results and make the comparison of different studies difficult.
The aim of this report is to give an overview on the application of EO water to help ensure the safety of fresh produce and demonstrate how meta-analysis can be used as a tool to compare different EO water produce sanitization efficacy studies.
Authors
Y.-C. Hung, H. Lin, Y. Chen
Keywords
electrolyzed water, food safety, fresh-cut
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