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UVC light is a widely used sterilization technology. However, UV lamps have several limitations, including low activity at refrigeration temperatures, a long warm-up time, and risk of mercury exposure. UV-type lamps only emit light at 254 nm, so as an alternative, UV light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs) which can produce the desired wavelengths have been developed. In this study, we validated the inactivation efficacy of UV-LEDs by wavelength and compared the results to those of conventional UV lamps. Selective media inoculated with Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, and Listeria monocytogenes were irradiated using UV-LEDs at 266, 270, 275, and 279 nm in the UVC spectrum at 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, and 0.7 mJ/cm(2), respectively. The radiation intensity of the UV-LEDs was about 4 μW/cm(2), and UV lamps were covered with polypropylene films to adjust the light intensity similar to those of UV-LEDs. In addition, we applied UV-LED to sliced cheese at doses of 1, 2, and 3 mJ/cm(2). Our results showed that inactivation rates after UV-LED treatment were significantly different (P < 0.05) from those of UV lamps at a similar intensity. On microbiological media, UV-LED treatments at 266 and 270 nm showed significantly different (P < 0.05) inactivation effects than other wavelength modules. For sliced cheeses, 4- to 5-log reductions occurred after treatment at 3 mJ/cm(2) for all three pathogens, with negligible generation of injured cells., (Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.)

Low-pressure mercury UV (LP-UV) lamps have long been used for bacterial inactivation, but due to certain disadvantages, such as the possibility of mercury leakage, deep-UV-C light-emitting diodes (DUV-LEDs) for disinfection have recently been of great interest as an alternative. Therefore, in this study, we examined the basic spectral properties of DUV-LEDs and the effects of UV-C irradiation for inactivating foodborne pathogens, including Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, and Listeria monocytogenes, on solid media, as well as in water. As the temperature increased, DUV-LED light intensity decreased slightly, whereas LP-UV lamps showed increasing intensity until they reached a peak at around 30°C. As the irradiation dosage and temperature increased, E. coli O157:H7 and S. Typhimurium experienced 5- to 6-log-unit reductions. L. monocytogenes was reduced by over 5 log units at a dose of 1.67 mJ/cm(2). At 90% relative humidity (RH), only E. coli O157:H7 experienced inactivation significantly greater than at 30 and 60% RH. In a water treatment study involving a continuous system, 6.38-, 5.81-, and 3.47-log-unit reductions were achieved in E. coli O157:H7, S. Typhimurium, and L. monocytogenes, respectively, at 0.5 liter per minute (LPM) and 200 mW output power. The results of this study suggest that the use of DUV-LEDs may compensate for the drawbacks of using LP-UV lamps to inactivate foodborne pathogens., (Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.)

Pathogen inactivation induced by atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) (250 W, 15 kHz, air discharge) produced in a rectangular plastic container and the effect of post-treatment storage time on inactivation were evaluated using agar plates and cheese slices. When agar plates were treated with plasma, populations of Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Listeria monocytogenes showed 3.57, 6.69, and 6.53 decimal reductions at 60 s, 45 s, and 7 min, respectively. When the pathogens tested were inoculated on cheese slices, 2.67, 3.10, and 1.65 decimal reductions were achieved at the same respective treatment times. The post-treatment storage duration following plasma treatment potently affected further reduction in pathogen populations. Therefore, the newly developed encapsulated DBD-plasma system for use in a container can be applied to improve the safety of sliced cheese, and increasing post-treatment storage time can greatly enhance the system's pathogen-inactivation efficiency., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The effects of a flexible thin-layer dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma system using a sealed package on microbial inactivation and quality attributes of fresh pork and beef were tested. Following a 10-min treatment, the microbial-load reductions of Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Salmonella Typhimurium were 2.04, 2.54, and 2.68 Log CFU/g in pork-butt samples and 1.90, 2.57, and 2.58 Log CFU/g in beef-loin samples, respectively. Colorimetric analysis showed that DBD-plasma treatment did not significantly affect L* values (lightness) of pork and beef samples, but lowered a* values (redness) significantly after 5- and 7.5-min exposures. The plasma treatment significantly influenced lipid oxidation only after a 10-min exposure. The texture of both types of meat was unaffected by plasma treatment. All sensory parameters of treated and non-treated samples were comparable except for taste, which was negatively influenced by the plasma treatment (P < 0.05). This thin-layer DBD-plasma system can be applied to inactivate foodborne pathogens. The observed minor deterioration of meat quality might be prevented by the use of hurdle technology., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The aim of this study was to investigate the inactivation kinetics of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Listeria monocytogenes on ready-to-eat sliced ham by near-infrared (NIR) heating as a function of the processing parameter, radiation intensity. Precooked ham slices inoculated with the three pathogens were treated at different NIR intensities (ca. 100, 150, and 200 μW/cm(2)/nm). An increase in the applied radiation intensity resulted in a gradual increase of inactivation of all pathogens. The survival curves of the three pathogens exhibited both shoulder and tailing behavior at all light intensities. Among nonlinear models, the Weibull distribution and log-logistic model were used to describe the experimental data, and the statistical results (mean square error and R(2) values) indicated the suitability of the model for prediction. The log-logistic model more accurately described survival curves of the three pathogens than did the Weibull distribution at all radiation intensities. The output of this study and the proposed kinetics model would be beneficial to the deli meat industry for selecting the optimum processing conditions of NIR heating to meet the target pathogen inactivation on ready-to-eat sliced ham.