Primary concerns regarding the application of electrolyzed water in the meat industry

The application of electrolyzed water effectively reduces microbial contamination and has greatly contributed to delayed meat spoilage. However, concerns about applying electrolyzed water in the meat industry, which include the stability of available chlorine in various storage conditions, corrosion resistance and residual chlorate, have attracted much attention. In this study, primary concerns regarding acid electrolyzed water (AEW) and slightly acid electrolyzed water (sAEW) were evaluated in comparison to those of sodium hypochlorite (SH) widely used in meat processing plants. The results showed that closed and 4 °C storage conditions, which just declined about 30% ACC of available chlorine concentration (ACC), were more beneficial than open and 20 °C storage conditions for maintaining the stability of electrolyzed water, whereas no differences in stability were observed between dark and light storage. The decline of ACC positively depended on the concentrations of organic materials ranged from 0.1% to 0.3%, and the ACC was close to 10 mg/mL after 30 min trearment. The corrosion of AEW was equal to that of SH, but it was higher than that of sAEW. In addition, the concentration of residual chlorate in meat sprayed by electrolyzed water was less than meat sprayed by SH. The findings suggested that electrolyzed water is a great potential substitute for SH in the meat industry.