Inactivation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 by high pressure carbon dioxide combined with nisin in physiological saline, phosphate-buffered saline and carrot juice

•HPCD could enhance the sensitization of E. coli to nisin in PBS buffer and carrot juice.•Inactivation of E. coli in PS by HPCD/HPCD + nisin followed first order kinetics.•Inactivation of E. coli in PBS and carrot juice by HPCD/HPCD + nisin could be fitted to the modified Gompertz equation.

The individual and combined effects of high pressure carbon dioxide (HPCD) and nisin (200 IU/mL) on the inactivation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 suspended in physiological saline (PS, pH 5.60), phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 5.60 or 7.00) or carrot juice (pH 6.80) were evaluated. The pressure in this study was 5 and 8 MPa, the temperature was 25 °C-45 °C, and the treatment time was 5-65 min. Inactivation of cells in PS (pH 5.60) by HPCD followed first order kinetics, the k (the inactivation rates) increased while the D (decimal reduction time) decreased in the presence of nisin, however, the acid solution dissolving nisin rather than nisin itself played a prominent role in this combination effect with HPCD in PS buffer. The inactivation kinetics of cells in PBS (pH 5.60 or 7.00) and carrot juice (pH 6.80) by HPCD followed slow-to-fast two-stage kinetics and was fitted by the modified Gompertz equation. The M (the time at which the absolute death rate is maximum) significantly decreased in the presence of nisin. HPCD enhanced the sensitization of E. coli to nisin and the time for the complete inactivation was shortened by 2.5-5 min in PBS buffer and carrot juice by combination of HPCD and nisin (HPCD + nisin) than by HPCD alone. Regression coefficients (R2) and mean square error (MSE) were used to evaluate the model performance, indicating that the models could provide a good fitting to the experimental data.