Combined sustainable sanitising treatments to reduce Escherichia coli and Salmonella Enteritidis growth on fresh-cut kailan-hybrid broccoli

The effects of peroxyacetic acid (PA), neutral electrolysed water (NEW), ultraviolet C light (UV-C) and superatmospheric O2 packaging (HO), single or combined, on the growth rate of Escherichia coli and S. Enteritidis inoculated onto fresh-cut kailan-hybrid broccoli were studied throughout 14 days of shelf life at 5 and 10 °C. As controls, unwashed, water-washed and NaClO-washed were used. PA and NEW showed a better sanitising effect than NaClO against both E. coli/S. Enteritidis with reductions of 2.2/2.7 and 2.6/2.6 log CFU g−1, respectively. UV-C attained E. coli/S. Enteritidis decreases of 1.3–1.4/2.1–2.2 log CFU g−1 compared to unwashed samples. The bacteriostatic effects of PA or NEW were improved when they were combined with UV-C, decreasing E. coli and S. Enteritidis counts by about 3 log CFU g−1. After 14 days, PA and NEW-treated samples attained E. coli/S. Enteritidis reductions at 5 °C of 2.3/1.4 and about 1 log CFU g−1, respectively. Storage of those samples at 10 °C masked that sanitising effect. At both storage temperatures, UV-C-treated samples registered lower E. coli and S. Enteritidis reductions (or higher increases for S. Enteritidis at 10 °C) regarding conventional NaClO-sanitized samples or other single treatments. However, PA, NEW or UV-C-treated samples under HO at both storage temperatures showed better bacterial control than individual treatments with the greatest effectiveness for UV-C + HO. Triple combination did not imply an enhanced benefit over double combinations. Conclusively, PA, NEW and UV-C seems to be effective emergent alternatives to NaClO to reduce initial E. coli and S. Enteritidis populations in fresh-cut kailan-hybrid broccoli. Storage at 5 or 10 °C under HO greatly controlled microbial growth.