ARS Tests Leafy Produce Sanitation
8 July 2008 Scientists at Agricultural Research Service (ARS) — an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture dedicated to research — are testing a new sanition method for use on leafy greens, which have been found to harbor illness-causing bacteria such as Escherichia coli (E.coli).
ARS Produce Quality and Safety Laboratory (PQSL) food technologist Yaguang Luo reformulated a new sanitizer which works as as a wash-solution ingredient, and is an improvement over currently-used chlorine, which doesn’t eliminate all organisms on the produce. The new sanitizer, combined with ultrasound, could be used to enhance the microbial safety of leafy green produce before the bagging process, says Luo.
In a study at the University of Illinois using the new sanitizer formulation combined with ultrasound on spinach prior to bagging, the E. coli bacteria decreased from about 300,000 colony-forming units to fewer than 10.
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