Efficacy of two acidic sanitizers for microbial reduction on metal cans and low-density polyethylene film surfaces.

This study investigated 2 sanitizer formulations and compared them with hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)). Formulation number 1 contained citric acid and sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS). Formulation number 2 contained SDBS, citric, lactic, phosphoric acids, and benzoic acid. Low concentration levels of the sanitizers (1.0% for formulation 1 and 0.5% for formulation 2) were compared with 35% H(2)O(2) for their efficacies on Escherichia coli, Listeria innocua, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae inoculated onto low-density polyethylene (LDPE) films and metal cans at room temperature (23 +/- 1 degrees C) and 40 degrees C. The results showed that both formulations 1 and 2 required >120 s to sanitize both materials from microbial populations at room temperature, while <15 s was needed for the H(2)O(2). Except for formulation 1 on the E. coli inoculated LDPE film surface, the sanitizers completely eliminated the bacterial populations on both materials in 60 s at 40 degrees C. In general, the formulations were more effective for reduction of the microbial numbers on the can material when compared with the LDPE film. The E. coli showed greater tolerance for the sanitizers when exposed to the process conditions in this study. All sanitizers completely eliminated the test organisms in </=36 s at 40 degrees C when tested on a commercial Benco Aseptic packaging machine.