Among the different washing treatments, DW or EO water prepared from 0.05% (w/v) NaCl did not (P>0.05) reduce the native
microflora as compared with untreated fruit, in which only 0.25 to
0.41 log10CFU/g reduction was observed on fruits washed in EO water from 0.05% (w/v) electrolyzed solution (Table 2). Washing with
EO water generated from 0.10% (w/v) aqueous NaCl resulted in a
1.44 to 2.23 log reduction with the maximum reduction at an exposure time of 10 min. Extending washing time from5 to 15 min did not
further decrease bacterial number with all tested solutions. These
results are consistent with the data by Koseki and others (2004) that
rinsing strawberries with EO water (pH 2.6, ORP 1130 mV, and 32.1
ppm free chlorine) for 10 min resulted in a 0.90 log10CFU/fruit reduction of mesophilic aerobic bacteria comparing with 0.10 log10
CFU/fruit for water treatment.
The effect of NaCl concentration in EO water preparation on the
antibacterial activity may be attributed to the different amounts of
free chlorine present. Len and others (2000) observed that residual
chlorine in the form of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) was the primary