Potential of Electrolyzed Water as an Alternative Disinfectant Agent in the Fresh-Cut Industry
Date
2015Discipline/s
Ciencias de la AlimentaciónSubject/s
Water disinfectionSanitizers
Non-thermal water treatment
Process water
Microbiological control
Chlorinated by-products
Abstract
Water disinfection is one of the most critical processing
steps in fresh-cut vegetable production. Technologies
capable for the efficient disinfection of process water and
recycled water would allow reducing wastewater and have
less impact on the environment. Among the chemical
disinfectants, hypochlorite solutions are still the most widely
used. Electrochemical disinfection of the wash water has been
demonstrated to be effective in eliminating a wide spectrum of
pathogens in process water. Both hypochlorite solutions and
electrochemically produced chlorine compounds, in particular
hypochlorous acid, are effective disinfectants when adequate
doses are used. A new electrochemical process using borondoped
diamond electrodes can generate additional reactive
oxidant species than chlorine and further enhance the
disinfecting capacity. However, there are pros and cons on
the use of one or other disinfectant agents. In this review, the
technological advantages and the limitati...