Priming with nano-aerosolized water and sequential dip-washing with hydrogen peroxide: An efficient sanitization method to inactivate Salmonella Typhimurium LT2 on spinach

This work investigates the efficacy of a combined sanitization approach involving pretreatment of nano-aerosolized water followed by H2O2 dip-washing against Salmonella Typhimurium LT2 on spinach. The addition of a pretreatment step utilizing nano-aerosolized water for 5 min significantly increased the sanitization efficacy: The number of surviving bacteria was 5.2 ± 0.8 CFU/g, 4.7 ± 0.2 CFU/g, and 1.1 ± 1.1 CFU/g for H2O2 dip-washing only, H2O2 spraying only, and for the combined treatment, respectively. The enhanced efficacy of the combined treatment was attributed to the ability of nano-aerosolized water to reach and fill crevices that tended to form micro airpockets with the liquid (bulk) sanitizer. Overall, these findings may suggest that a short priming step involving nano-aerosolized water may be incorporated in traditional liquid sanitization approaches to enhance their effectiveness.