title: Use of 1% peroxyacetic acid sanitizer in an air-mixing wash basin to remove bacterial pathogens from seeds.
abstract: To achieve the production of pathogen-free sprouts, there must be appropriate mixing of liquid sanitizer with the seeds to assure contact. Commercial treatments by irradiation or ozone gas of Salmonella spp. artificially inoculated seeds were compared, and these resulted in a 1 log reduction after all treatments. Use of peroxyacetic acid (1%) sanitizer on Salmonella spp. or Escherichia coli O157:H7 inoculated alfalfa seeds consistently resulted in a greater than 1 log reduction. In addition, during these studies debris was noted after the seeds were removed. Based on this observation, an air-mixing wash basin was developed for commercial use. Validation was done by commercial growers using 1% peroxyacetic acid sanitizer to wash seeds in the air-mixing basin, followed by sprouting the seeds. No positive or false-positive pathogen results were reported after the required testing of the sprout water (run-off during sprouting). Use of 1% peroxyacetic acid sanitizer in the air-mixing wash basin does provide the sprout grower an effective means of sanitizing sprout seeds.
authors.affiliation: Food Safety Intervention Technologies Research Unit, Eastern Regional Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, USA. kathleen.rajkowski@ars.usda.gov
authors.forename: Kathleen T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Rajkowski
authors.forename: Kean
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ashurst
mesh_terms: D004202:Disinfectants; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods; D000455:Medicago sativa / Q000382:microbiology*; D010463:Peracetic Acid; D036226:Seedlings / Q000382:microbiology; D012639:Seeds / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology*; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms; D014675:Vegetables / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D004202:Disinfectants; D010463:Peracetic Acid