Berries were bisected longitudinally. For apples, pears, cantaloupes and strawberries each fruit disc was kept on sterile petri dishes,with the uncut peel surface facing up. Three raspberry discs were positioned on each sterile petri dish, with the cut surface on the bottomand the epidermal surface facing up. The bacterial cocktailwas agitated 25 times in a 30 cmarc to ensure thorough mixing. Next, 500 μl was spot inoculated onto the epidermal surfaces of each cantaloupe disc, 100 μl on each apple, pear and strawberry disc, and 50 μl on each raspberry disc. The inoculated fruit discs were dried for an hour inside a biological safety cabinet.