Effect of Ozonized Water against Pathogenic Bacteria and Filamentous Fungi on Stainless Steel

Ozone is a molecule that has gained increasing interest in recent years by food industries for sanitization of food-grade surfaces. Compared to chemical sanitizers such as chlorine, hydrogen peroxide, or peracetic acid, ozone shows undeniable advantages, such as the absence of by-products that should affect human health or the possibility of generating it when needed. Therefore, the aim of this paper was the assessment of the resistance to ozonized water of two pathogenic bacteria (Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella) and of three airborne food-spoiling fungi (Aspergillus brasiliensis, Hyphopichia burtonii, and Penicillium nordicum) inoculated on stainless steel tiles and treated in static conditions with 1 to 6 mg L−1 (pathogens) or 8.5 mg L−1 (filamentous fungi). Ozonized water gave different results based on the tested microorganisms: pathogenic bacteria proved markedly more sensible to ozone than filamentous fungi, even if great differences were observed at inter- and intra-specific levels for both categories of microorganisms. Nevertheless, the non-linear inactivation kinetics of the studied strains made the calculation of a punctual F-value difficult, so in industrial practice, adequate tailoring of the treatments to be applied, based on the registered extrinsic factors and the industrial bio-burden, would be appropriate.