Growth of pulsed electric field exposed Escherichia coli in relation to inactivation and environmental factors

Pulsed electric fields (PEF) have been proven to inactivate microorganisms during nonthermal conditions and have the potential to replace thermal processing as a method for food preservation. However, there is a need to understand the recovery and growth of survivors and potentially injured microorganisms following PEF processing. The purpose of this investigation was to study the growth of Escherichia coli at 10 °C following exposure to electrical field strengths (15, 22.5 and 30 kV/cm) in relation to inactivation and the amount of potentially sublethally injured cells. One medium was used as both a treatment medium and an incubation medium, to study the influence of environmental factors on the inactivation and the growth of the surviving population. The pH (5.0, 6.0 and 7.0) and water activity (1.00, 0.985 and 0.97) of the medium was varied by adding HCl and glycerol, respectively. Growth was followed continuously by measuring the optical density. The time-to-detection (td) and the maximum specific growth rate (μmax) were calculated from these data. Results showed that the PEF process did not cause any obvious sublethal injury to the E. coli cells. The number of survivors was a consequence of the combination of electrical field strength and environmental factors, with pH being the most prominent. Interestingly, the μmax of subsequent growth was influenced by the applied electrical field strength during the process, with an increased μmax at more intense electrical field strengths. In addition, the μmax was also influenced by the pH and water activity. The td, which could theoretically be considered as an increase in shelf life, was found to depend on a complex correlation between electrical field strength, pH and water activity. That could be explained by the fact that the td is a combination of the number of survivors, the recovery of sublethal injured cells and the growth rate of the survivors.