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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Food Safety and Intervention Technologies Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #332784
Research Project: The Role of Genotype in the Development and Validation of Growth Models and Intervention Technologies for Pathogenic Non-Shiga Toxigenic Escherichia coli Found in Foods

Location: Food Safety and Intervention Technologies Research

Title: Inactivation of foodborne pathogens in chicken purge or skin using a 405-nm LED array

Author
item Sommers, Christopher
item Gunther, Nereus - Jack
item Sheen, Shiowshuh - Allen

Submitted to: Food Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/19/2016
Publication Date: 12/22/2016
Citation: Sommers, C.H., Gunther, N.W., Sheen, S. 2016. Inactivation of foodborne pathogens in chicken purge or skin using a 405-nm LED array. Food Microbiology. 64:135-138.

Interpretive Summary: Poultry meat can sometimes be contaminated with a number of foodborne pathogens including Salmonella spp., pathogenic Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus spp. and Listeria monocytogenes. Meat and poultry processors have adopted a light based technologies (e.g. ultraviolet light) for decontamination of meat and poultry surfaces as well as food contact surfaces such as stainless steel. In this study we evaluated the use of 405-nm visible light generated from a LED array to kill Salmonella spp., pathogenic Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus spp. and Listeria monocytogenes in poultry purge or on poultry skin. The 405-nm light was able to kill 50-90 % of the these bacteria on poultry purge or skin at a dose of 180 J/cm2. This research will enable meat and poultry processors decide whether to adopt 405-nm light to improve the safety of foods or food contact surfaces.

Technical Abstract: Raw meat poultry are sometimes contaminated with foodborne pathogens, which can lead to illness in humans. In recent years research has focused on a variety of light technologies to decontaminate food and food contact surfaces during meat and poultry processing. In this study we evaluated the ability of 405-nm light generated from an LED array to inactivate multi-isolate cocktails of either Salmonella spp., pathogenic Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus spp., or Listeria monocytogenes suspended in chicken purge, or on chicken skin. When exposed to 180 J/cm2 40-nm light at two separate light intensities (300 mW/cm2/s or 150 mW/cm2/s) the maximum pathogen reduction on chicken skin was ca. 0.4 log. When the pathogens were suspended in chicken purge the maximum log reductions ranged from 0.23 to 0.68 log (180 J/cm2; 150 mW/cm2/s) versus 0.69 to 1.01 log (180 J/cm2; 300 mW/cm2/s). Minimal log reductions of foodborne pathogens, combined with long exposure times, present challenges to the use of 405-nm light impractical in a meat and poultry processing environment.