Effects of pulsed light and aerosolized formic acid treatments on inactivation of Salmonella enterica on cherry tomato, reduction of microbial loads, and preservation of fruit quality

Fresh produce remains the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks. Novel nonthermal technologies are needed to reduce risk pathogen contamination. The objective this study was develop a novel intervention technology exploiting integration high intensity short time (10 s) pulsed light (PL) and aerosolized formic acid (AFA) for inactivation Salmonella maintenance quality cherry tomato. Smooth surface tomatoes, inoculated with cocktail containing three serotypes enterica, treated PL 10 s followed by 2 min treatment 1% AFA. Non-inoculated tomatoes were used effects on native microflora quality. delivered significant at low doses. An optimal equivalent dose 10.5 J/cm2, provided 2.2 log CFU/g reduction while exposure in AFA antimicrobial yielded comparatively low, 1.7 reductions combination treatments (2 min) additive yielding 4.2 (P ≤ 0.05) pathogen. During cold storage °C) survivor population declined further providing 4.8 day 21. PL-AFA significantly reduced microbiota tomato also hindered their growth weeks. Mold yeast (M&Y) spoilage organism populations below detection level. Furthermore, factors as firmness color not affected treatments. boosted redness appearance indicating favorable consumer acceptability. Overall, our results demonstrate that could potentially be approach enhance microbial safety tomatoes.