Efficacy of antimicrobials for the disinfection of pathogen contaminated green bell pepper and of consumer cleaning methods for the decontamination of knives Keila L. Perez a , Lisa M. Lucia a , Luis Cisneros-Zevallos b , Alejandro Castillo a , T. Matthew Taylor a, ⁎ a Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-2471, USA b Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-2133, USA abstract article info Article history: Received 4 August 2011 Received in revised form 6 March 2012 Accepted 10 March 2012 Available online 21 March 2012 Keywords: Salmonella enterica Escherichia coli O157:H7 Antimicrobials Produce Consumers While there is strong focus on eliminating pathogens from produce at a commercial level, consumers can employ simple methods to achieve additional pathogen reductions in the domestic kitchen. To determine the ability of antimicrobials to decontaminate peppers, samples of green bell pepper were inoculated with Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli O157:H7 and then immersed in 3% (v/v) hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), 2.5% (v/v) acetic acid (AA), 70% (v/v) ethyl alcohol (EtOH), or sterile distilled water (SDW). The potential for transfer of pathogens from contaminated peppers to other non-contaminated produce items, and the effect of knife disinfection in preventing this cross contamination, were also tested. Knife disinfection procedures were evaluated by chopping inoculated peppers into 1 cm 2 pieces with kitchen knives. Experimental knives were then treated by either no treatment (control), wiping with a dry sterile cotton towel, rinsing under running warm water for 5 or 10 s, or applying a 1% (v/v) lauryl sulfate-based detergent solution followed by rinsing with warm running water for 10 s. Following disinfection treatment, knives were used to slice cucumbers. Exposure to H 2 O 2 for 5 min and EtOH for 1 min resulted in reductions of 1.3 ± 0.3 log 10 CFU/cm 2 for both pathogens. A 5 min exposure to AA resulted in a reduction of S. enterica of 1.0±0.7 log 10 CFU/cm 2 and E. coli of 0.7±0.8 log 10 CFU/cm 2 . No differences (p ≥ 0.05) were found between numbers of pathogens on knives and numbers of pathogens transferred to cucumber slices, suggesting that organisms remaining on knife surfaces were transferred to cucumbers during slicing. Findings suggest that EtOH and H 2 O 2 may be effective antimicrobials for in-home decontamination of peppers, and that use of detergent and warm water is effective for decontamination of implements used during meal preparation. Published by Elsevier B.V. 1. Introduction According to the latest data published by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1034 outbreaks of food- borne disease were reported in 2008 (CDC, 2011). These outbreaks involved 23,152 cases of illness, 1276 hospitalizations, and 22 deaths (CDC, 2011). Salmonella was the most common cause of hospitaliza- tions related to foodborne disease outbreaks (62%), followed by Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) causing 17% of the hos- pitalizations (CDC, 2011). The top commodities associated with these outbreaks of foodborne disease were fruits, nuts, and vine-stalk veg- etables (CDC, 2011). Among the outbreaks in 2008 with a known set- ting where food was consumed, 52% resulted from foods consumed in a restaurant or deli, while 15% resulted from food consumed in a home (CDC, 2011). Produce can become contaminated with pathogens during produc- tion, harvest and processing, as well as at retail outlets, food service establishments and the domestic kitchen (Johnston et al., 2005; Kader, 2002; Lynch et al., 2009). As previously mentioned, numerous outbreaks have resulted from food consumed in a restaurant or food service establishment, or in the domestic environment (CDC, 2011). Furthermore, cross-contamination plays an important role in the transmission of pathogenic microbes, especially when consumers are preparing dishes in the home (de Jong et al., 2008; van Asselt et al., 2008). There are multiple ways in which cross contamination occurs in the kitchen. According to Moore et al. (2007), contact surfaces that are easily cleaned and considered the most hygienic may become an important source of pathogens via cross-contamination, since these surfaces are also more likely to release organisms during food prepa- ration. In the kitchen, microorganisms can diffuse and spread from contaminated foods, such as raw poultry, fish or meat, to the hand and other food contact surfaces such as cutting boards or knives (Gorman et al., 2002). The retention of bacteria on food contact sur- faces increases the risk of cross-contamination of these microorgan- isms to food (Kusumaningrum et al., 2003). Therefore, consumers can take action during food preparation in the domestic kitchen set- ting to reduce the risk of foodborne illness (de Jong et al., 2008). The use of food antimicrobials has been repeatedly researched and identified as useful in reducing the risk of transmission of produce- International Journal of Food Microbiology 156 (2012) 76–82 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: + 1 979 845 1541; fax: + 1 979 862 3475. E-mail address: matt_taylor@tamu.edu (T.M. Taylor). 0168-1605/$ – see front matter. Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2012.03.012 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect International Journal of Food Microbiology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfoodmicro