Inactivation of Salmonella spp., pathogenic Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus spp., or Listeria monocytogenes in chicken purge or skin using a 405-nm LED array.

Raw poultry are sometimes contaminated with foodborne pathogens, which can lead to illness in humans. In recent years research has focused on a variety of light technologies to decontaminate food and food contact surfaces during meat and poultry processing. In this study we evaluated the ability of 405-nm light generated from an LED array to inactivate multi-isolate cocktails of either Salmonella spp., pathogenic Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus spp., or Listeria monocytogenes suspended in chicken purge or skin. When exposed to 180 J/cm(2) 405-nm light at two separate light intensities (300 mW/cm(2)/s or 150 mW/cm(2)/s) the maximum pathogen reduction on chicken skin was ca. 0.4 log. When the pathogens were suspended in chicken purge the maximum log reductions ranged from 0.23 to 0.68 log (180 J/cm(2); 150 mW/cm(2)/s) versus 0.69 to 1.01 log (180 J/cm(2); 300 mW/cm(2)/s). Log reductions of each pathogen, when they were subjected to heat shock prior to 405-nm light treatment, were reduced, indicating that thermal effects accounted for much of the bacterial inactivation.