Modeling inactivation kinetics and occurrence of sublethal injury of a pulsed electric field-resistant strain of Escherichia coli and Salmonella Typhimurium in media of different pH

A study of the effect of pulsed electric fields (PEF) on the kinetics of inactivation and the occurrence of cell damage in Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Typhimurium 878 treated in McIlvaine buffer covering a range from pH 3.5 to 7.0 was conducted. Mathematical equations based on the Weibull distribution were developed to describe the influence of the electric field strength, treatment time and pH of the treatment medium on the lethality and generation of cell damage of both Gram negative pathogenic bacteria after the application of PEF treatments. E. coli O157:H7 was more PEF resistant than Salmonella Typhimurium at all pH investigated. PEF resistance of E. coli was influenced by the pH but the pH hardly affected the PEF resistance of Salmonella Typhimurium 878. After 150 μs at 35 kV/cm, 1 and 5 log₁₀ cycles of inactivation of E. coli O157:H7 were observed in the range of pH 3.5–4.5 and 5.5–6.5, respectively. Cell damage increased with the field strength and treatment time. A maximum cell damage level of 4.2 and 2.7 log₁₀ cycles for E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Typhimurium was observed respectively after a treatment of 30 kV/cm at pH 3.5. PEF induced cell damage was not detected at pH higher than 5.0 for both microorganisms. The developed equations can be applied to design combining processes which can increase the lethality of PEF or to reduce the intensity of PEF treatments to achieve a determine level of microbial inactivation.Industrial relevanceThis study demonstrates that when the influence of several factors on the microbial behavior is investigated, the development of mathematical models is a very useful tool to evaluate the influence of each parameter and their interactions. In this study, it has been mathematically described for first time the influence of the pH of the treatment medium and the occurrence of sublethal injury in a wide range of electric field strengths and treatment times in two Gram negative pathogenic bacteria, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Typhimurium 878. These models would also be of interest for engineering design, evaluation and optimization of PEF process as a new technique for food preservation.