Synergistic effects of ethanol and UV radiation to reduce levels of selected foodborne pathogenic bacteria.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether combined treatments would produce synergistic disinfection effects on food products during food processing compared with single treatments. We investigated the bactericidal effects of a commercial chemical disinfectant (ethanol) and of UV radiation on Bacillus cereus F4810/72, Cronobacter sakazakii KCTC 2949, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 35556, Escherichia coli ATCC 10536, and Salmonella enterica Typhimurium NO/NA in vitro. Various concentrations of ethanol (10, 30, 40, and 50%) were tested with various exposure doses of UV radiation (6, 96, 216, 360, and 504 mWs/cm(2)) with a UV lamp. The combined ethanol-UV treatments resulted in greater reductions in bacterial counts than did either treatment alone. The synergistic effect values for B. cereus, C. sakazakii, S. aureus, S. enterica Typhimurium NO/NA, and E. coli were 0.40 to 1.52, 0.52 to 1.74, 0.20 to 2.32, 0.07 to 1.14, and 0.02 to 1.75 log CFU/ml, respectively. The results of this study suggest that a significant synergistic benefit results from combining ethanol and UV treatments against foodborne pathogens in vitro.