Master of Science / Food Science / Kelly J.K. Getty / James L. Marsden / Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreaks have been linked to leafy green produce and bagged spinach. The objective of this study was to evaluate a Photohydroionization (PHI) panel (novel advanced oxidation technology) and varying concentrations of lactic acid washes for controlling E. coli O157:H7 on baby spinach. Leaves were dip inoculated with a five-strain cocktail of E. coli O157:H7 inoculum having a concentration between 5-6 log CFU/ml. Leaves were submerged in inoculum for 30 s and dried for 1 h. Non-inoculated and inoculated leaves were washed for 30 s in food grade lactic acid diluted to concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, or 2.0% and allowed to dry for 10 min. For PHI treatment, leaves were placed under the PHI panel and treated for 1, 2, or 5 min on both sides for total treatment times of 2, 4 or 10 min. Following treatments, leaves were either sealed in low-density polyethylene bags or enumerated. Samples were enumerated at 0, 3, 7, 10, and 14 days following inoculation. Ten gram samples were diluted with sterile peptone and stomached for one min, and then 0.1 ml was plated onto sorbitol MacConkey agar with cefixime and tellurite plates that were incubated at 37°C for 24 h. For lactic acid treatments, E. coli O157:H7 populations were different (P < 0.05) compared to the control. There was no difference (P > 0.05) due to sampling time so sampling times where pooled together for each lactic acid concentration of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0% and resulted in 2.01, 2.78, and 3.67 log CFU/g reductions, respectively. Leaves treated with 1.0% and 2.0% lactic acid had color degradation and were organoleptically unacceptable by day 14. When leaves were treated with PHI for 1, 2, or 5 min per side, E. coli O157:H7 populations were reduced 1.6, 1.49, or 1.95 log CFU/g, respectively. Leaves treated with PHI were not different from one another, but were different (P < 0.05) from the positive control. No color change occurred in leaves treated with PHI. The PHI panel and lactic acid washes of 0.5% or higher are effective in reducing E. coli O157:H7 in baby spinach.

Advanced oxidation technology (AOT) has been used to destroy microorganisms in ballast water by breaking down the cell membranes. The primary objective of this study was to determine the effects of a ballast water treatment system that uses a combination of UV-C (λ=254 nm), Vacuum-UV (VUV; λ=185 nm) and photocatalytic titanium dioxide (TiO2) on a freshwater algae, Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, and a marine algae, Tetraselmis suecica. The coupling of a semiconductor, such as TiO2, with a UV source is known as an advanced oxidative technology (AOT). To test the effects of TiO2 and wave length on algae, dose-response experiments were conducted to determine the species median lethal dose (LC50) for each of the following treatments: UV-light emitted at 254 nm (UVλ=254 nm), UV-light emitted at 254 nm in the presence of TiO2 (AOTλ=254 nm), and UV-light emitted at λ=254 nm (90 %) and 185 nm (90 %) in the presence of TiO2 (AOTλ=185 + 254 nm). In both species, TiO2 significantly increased mortality, most likely due to the biologically harmful radicals generated at the TiO2 surface. The addition of the 185 nm wavelength significantly increased cell mortality in P. subcapitata, but not in T. suecica. Across all three treatments, P. subcapitata was more sensitive than T. suecica. The secondary purpose of this study was to assess the applicability of ImageJ, an image analysis software, for highthroughput data to analyze the effectiveness of ballast water treatment. ImageJ has been used to rapidly and accurately perform cell Live/Dead analysis; however, several hurdles were identified.