Assessing the efficacy of sanitizer sprays during brush or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) roller treatment to reduce Salmonella populations on whole mangoes.

Sanitizer spray and brush roller treatments have been documented as an effective means of reducing Salmonella on the surface of produce. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of chlorine (NaOCl), peroxyacetic acid (PAA), and chlorine dioxide (ClO) sprays to reduce Salmonella populations on the surface of mangoes during washing with brush or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) rollers. Whole mangoes were spot inoculated with 100 µL of a rifampicin-resistant Salmonella (8 log CFU/mL) cocktail at the equator and dried for 1 h. Mangoes were washed with a lab-scale roller system with either ground water (control), or sanitizers (100 ppm NaOCl, 80 ppm PAA, or 5 ppm ClO) for 0, 5, 15, 30, or 60 s (n = 15 mangoes). Dey/Engley buffer (100 mL) was used to rinse mangoes before plating on media supplemented with rifampicin. NaOCl, PAA, and ClO spray (except for ClO at 30 s) had significantly higher reduction on Salmonella population than water spray at all treatment times (P ≤ 0.05) when brush rollers were used. All tested sanitizers also achieved a significantly higher reduction than water at 5 s when PVC rollers were used (P ≤ 0.05). Salmonella reductions achieved by brush and PVC rollers was not statistically different (P > 0.05). After a 5 s treatment on brush and PVC rollers, NaOCl, PAA, and ClO spray had ca. 3.03 and 3.45 log, 3.96 and 3.28 log, and 2.54 and 2.00 log CFU/mango reductions, respectively, whereas water spray achieved 1.75 and 0.98 log CFU/mango reduction. Addition of sanitizers to spray water used during brush or PVC washing in mango packinghouses can reduce Salmonella on mango surfaces.