• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.912-917
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• 2011

The sterilization efficacies of various washing solutions on the surfaces of vegetables such as sesame leaves, lettuce, and mini-cabbage were investigated. The washing solutions were tap water (TW), microbubble water (MB), electrolyzed water (EW), and microbubble electrolyzed water (MB＋EW). After Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus were artificially inoculated onto the surfaces of vegetables, each vegetable was washed for 1, 3, and 5 min with TW, MB, EW 100 (100 mg/L of available chlorine), EW 200 (200 mg/L of available chlorine), MB+EW 100, and MB＋EW 200. The washing efficacy of MB was slightly higher than that of TW, and EW was more effective than MB (p<0.05). In all instances, the sterilization efficacies of MB+EW 100 and MB+EW 200 were higher than those of EW 100 and EW 200 (p<0.05). Thus, MB+EW offers an effective means of reducing the studied microorganisms in a short time period. The MB＋EW washing method provides microbial reduction on the surfaces of various vegetables and enhances the microbiological safety of the vegetables.