Fumaric Acid and Slightly Acidic Electrolyzed Water Inactivate Gram Positive and Gram Negative Foodborne Pathogens

Sanitizing effectiveness of slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) and fumaric acid (FA) at different dipping temperatures (25–60 °C), times (1–5 min), and concentrations (5–30 ppm for SAEW and 0.125%–0.5% for FA) on pure cultures of two Gram positive pathogens Staphylococcus aureus (SA) and Listeria monocytogenes (LM) and two Gram negative pathogens Escherichia coli O157:H7 (EC) and Salmonella Typhimurium (ST) was evaluated. FA (0.25%) showed the strongest sanitizing effect, demonstrating complete inactivation of EC, ST, and LM, while SA was reduced by 3.95–5.76 log CFU/mL at 25–60 °C, respectively, after 1 min of treatment. For SAEW, the complete inactivation was obtained when available chlorine concentration was increased to 20 ppm at 40 °C for 3 and 5 min. Moreover, Gram positive pathogens have been shown to resist to all treatment trends more than Gram negative pathogens throughout this experiment. Regardless of the different dipping temperatures, concentrations, and times, FA treatment was more effective than treatment with SAEW for reduction of foodborne pathogens. This study demonstrated that application of FA in food systems may be useful as a method for inactivation of foodborne pathogens.