In order to minimize the risk of foodborne illness, contamination of tomatoes has to be prevented or eliminated.
Normally, fresh produce receives little microbial
intervention other than washing. The most commonly used sanitizer in the produce industry is chlorine, which primary use is to limit cross-contamination during washing . However, failure to maintain free chlorine in wash water may increase the microbial loads on fresh produce.
Part of the produce tissue may also neutralize chlorine, making it less effective (1).
In addition,
chlorine compounds can react with organic matter on fresh produce to form carcinogenic organochlorine by-products (9).
For these reasons, alternative strategies to decrease pathogenic
bacterial levels on fresh produce are needed. One of the alternatives is to use ultraviolet-C light
at 254 nm.