Efficacy of Treating Foodborne Pathogens with Trichloromelamine and Ozone

Abstract

Due to the major public health problem of illnesses caused by foodborne pathogens, an efficient disinfecting method is needed during food processing. In an experiment to determine the effectiveness of antimicrobial agents, two disinfectants, trichloromelamine (TCM) and ozone, were compared. Samples of beef were separately inoculated with Escherichia coli and coliforms, Salmonella typhimurium, and Campylobacter jejuni. Infected meat samples were each sprayed with TCM and ozone to kill the bacteria. After incubation, meat samples were either swabbed or bacteria on the meat were rubbed off into sterile deionized water. Dilutions of collected bacterial samples were plated for counting. Beef samples infected with E. coli and coliforms treated with TCM had an 82.3% decrease in coliforms and a 98.2% decrease in E. coli, while ozone did not kill the bacteria. Beef samples infected with S. typhimurium showed a 61.3% decrease in pathogens when treated with ozone and no decrease when treated with TCM. Samples infected with C. jejuni showed a 100% decrease when treated with TCM and a 68.5% decrease when treated with ozone. Conflicting results made it difficult to determine which antimicrobial is best, although TCM may be more effective, so further testing is necessary.