Efficacy and Comparison of ANK Neutral Anolyte and 77X for Pathogen Control on Pre harvest Citrus Fruit and Their Suitability as Hard Surface Sanitizers
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Annamaraju Venkata Sai, Gayatri Amulya
Supervisor
Seale, Brent
Lolohea, Taniela
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Auckland University of Technology
Abstract
Fresh citrus fruit and all surfaces that come into contact with them during harvesting, processing, and storage pose serious food safety risks because they become contaminated with pathogenic bacteria. This study tested ANK Neutral Anolyte and 77X for their ability to kill bacteria and stop biofilm formation on hard plastic crate surfaces and pre-harvest citrus fruit against E. coli ATCC 25922, S. aureus 6538, and P. aeruginosa 9027. The products’ performance was assessed by comparing them with commercial sanitizers to determine their effectiveness as disinfectants for hard surfaces used in fruit production. Disc diffusion assays, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) analysis, and 96-well biofilm metabolic (XTT-menadione) assays were used to determine the antimicrobial activity of the treatment. The results showed that 77X exhibited strong antibacterial activity, with activity increasing with higher concentrations across all tested microorganisms (13.33 ± 0.58 mm, 19 ± 0.58 mm, and 14.33 ± 0.58 mm against E. coli, S. aureus, and P. aeruginosa, respectively). The product displayed broad-spectrum effectiveness, which is proven through its lower minimum inhibitory concentration values and its ability to create measurable inhibition zones. ANK Neutral Anolyte showed minimal antibacterial activity in agar diffusion tests, but it produced inhibitory effects through MIC determination and direct contact biofilm tests, which demonstrate that its antimicrobial efficiency depends on both concentration and time and environmental factors. Both agents reduced existing biofilms' metabolic processes, but their effectiveness increased with longer contact times and better concentration levels. 77X showed matching results to standard sanitizers while ANK Neutral Anolyte needed more precise optimization processes before reaching equivalent performance levels. This study proved that ANK Neutral Anolyte and 77X act as effective sanitizers for both plastic crates and pre-harvest citrus fruit. The study found that 77X demonstrated superior and more consistent antimicrobial performance.Description
Keywords
77X, Anolyte, Biofilm, Citrus, Sanitizer