Efficacy of neutral electrolysed water against Pseudomonas spp. in washing contaminating ready-to-eat vegetables

In the present study, we evaluated the antimicrobial activity of neutral electrolyzed water (NEW) against 14 strains of Pseudomonas responsible for spoilage of the leaves of lettuce 'iceberg', 'trocadero' chicory and endive under cold storage. Active chlorine concentration was found stable for 14 minutes also when it was in contact with mixed vegetables; in addition, NEW resulted to be bactericide, within 2 min, for all concentrations of free chlorine above 100 ppm. When catalogna chicory and lettuce leaves were dipped for 5 min in a NEW solution microbial loads of mesophilic bacteria counts and Enterobacteriaceae were reduced on average of 1.7 log cfu/g. This work demonstrates that in situ production of active chlorine, via electrolysis of a diluted sals solution, can be efficiently used against spoilage bacteria contaminating fresh cut vegetable.