U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Eastern Regional Research Center, 600 East Mermaid Lane, Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania 19038, USA.
J Food Prot. 2021 Aug 1;84(8):1304-1308. doi: 10.4315/JFP-21-051.
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has long been studied as an aqueous sanitizer to enhance microbial safety of fresh produce. Recently, we demonstrated that cold plasma-activated H2O2 aerosols, hereafter called ionized hydrogen peroxide (iHP), reduced populations of Salmonella, Listeria, and Escherichia coli by up to 5.5 log on surfaces of various produce items. However, the amount and fate of H2O2 residue left on fresh produce after treatments have not been evaluated. In the present study, H2O2 residue levels on apples, tomatoes, cantaloupe, and romaine lettuce were analyzed after treatments with 7.8% iHP at conditions that had been optimized and tailored for Salmonella reductions and each produce item. Results showed that higher residue levels were found on lettuce than on cantaloupe, tomatoes, and apples immediately after treatments. During storage at 10 and 22°C, H2O2 levels decreased rapidly and fell below 1 mg/kg within 1 day after treatments for all fresh produce items. Furthermore, the decrease was faster at 22°C than at 10°C. Most importantly, the levels of H2O2 residue on the fresh produce items were lower than those after wash with 1% H2O2 for 1 min. Overall, our results demonstrated that levels of H2O2 residue on fresh produce surfaces decomposed rapidly after treatment with iHP and did not appear to pose a safety concern after 1 day of storage.
过氧化氢（H2O2）长期以来一直被研究作为一种水基消毒剂，以提高新鲜农产品的微生物安全性。最近，我们证明了冷等离子体激活的 H2O2 气溶胶，以下简称离子化过氧化氢（iHP），可将各种农产品表面的沙门氏菌、李斯特菌和大肠杆菌减少多达 5.5 个对数级。然而，在处理后留在新鲜农产品上的 H2O2 残留量及其去向尚未得到评估。在本研究中，分析了在优化和定制用于减少沙门氏菌的条件下，7.8%的 iHP 处理后苹果、番茄、哈密瓜和罗马生菜上的 H2O2 残留水平。结果表明，处理后立即，生菜上的残留水平高于哈密瓜、番茄和苹果。在 10°C 和 22°C 下储存时，H2O2 水平迅速下降，在处理后 1 天内所有新鲜农产品的 H2O2 水平均低于 1mg/kg。此外，22°C 下的下降速度比 10°C 快。最重要的是，新鲜农产品上的 H2O2 残留水平低于用 1%H2O2 冲洗 1 分钟后的残留水平。总体而言，我们的结果表明，iHP 处理后，新鲜农产品表面的 H2O2 残留水平迅速分解，在储存 1 天后似乎不会造成安全问题。
