Effectiveness of slightly acidic electrolyzed water on bacteria reduction: in vitro and spray evaluation.

Bacterial inactivation is a crucial aspect of sanitation and hygiene. The effectiveness of slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) for reduction or removal of , and was evaluated. The bactericidal activity of SAEW and sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) against and were compared through in vitro experiments. The effectiveness of SAEW spray was tested against . Results showed that SAEW had a more powerful bactericidal activity than NaOCl at the same available chlorine concentrations. For , SAEW decreased the bacterial counts from 8.4 log CFU/mL to less than 3.9 log CFU/mL; NaOCl with the same available chlorine of 0.5 mg/L, caused a decrease from 8.4 log CFU/mL to 7.1 log CFU/mL. For , SAEW caused bacterial counts to decrease from 8.5 log CFU/mL to less than 4.1 log CFU/mL against 8.5 log CFU/mL to 6.2 log CFU/mL for NaOCl with the same available chlorine of 0.5 mg/L. Spray experiments showed that 10 mg/L of SAEW spray decreased the bacterial counts of from 3.7 log CFU/m to 2.8 log CFU/m, with 20 mg/L causing a reduction from 3.8 log CFU/m to 0 CFU/m. The overall findings of this study indicate that SAEW may be a promising disinfectant agent either as a solution or spray.