Efficacy of neutral electrolyzed water for sanitization of cutting boards used in the preparation of foods Original Research Article

The effectiveness of neutral electrolyzed water (NEW) to sanitize cutting boards used for food preparation was investigated. Cutting boards made of hardwood and bamboo were inoculated with Escherichia coli K12 and Listeria innocua, dried for 1 h, washed, rinsed and sanitized with NEW, sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) solution, or tap water (control). After each washing protocol, surviving bacterial populations were determined. Results showed that both NEW and NaClO sanitizing solutions produced similar levels of bacterial reductions. In manual washing, the population reductions by NEW and NaClO were 3.4 and 3.6 log10 CFU/100 cm2 for E. coli, and 4.1 and 3.9 log10 CFU/100 cm2 for L. innocua, respectively. In the automatic washing, the reductions by NEW and NaClO were 4.0 and 4.0 log10 CFU/100 cm2 for E. coli, and 4.2 and 3.6 log10 CFU/100 cm2 for L. innocua, respectively. No significant differences (P > 0.05) were observed in surviving bacteria counts when comparing board material types.