Evaluation of Commercial Disinfectants for Efficacy at Inactivating Enterobacter sakazakii (Cronobacter spp.) in Water: A Preliminary Study

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of commercial disinfectants at inactivating Enterobacter sakazakii (Cronobacter spp.) in water. Disinfectant I contained 6.15% sodium hypochlorite, and disinfectant II contained both 2.25% n-alkyl dimethylbenzyl ammonium chloride and 2.25% n-alkyl ethylbenzyl ammonium chloride. Disinfectant I was added to distilled water to obtain a range of residual chloride concentrations at 50 ppm intervals with a maximum of 1-1,000 ppm. Disinfectant II was prepared at concentrations ranging from 1-200 ppm with 5 ppm intervals. Exposure time for all solutions was 10 min. In total, 58 E. sakazakii (Cronobacter spp.) strains were tested in this study. Nine isolates were obtained from clinical samples, and 49 isolates were obtained from environmental samples. Seven strains (6 clinical and 1 environmental) were able to survive in 100 ppm disinfectant I, and a maximum of 5 ppm of disinfectant II. Fifty one strains (3 clinical and 48 environmental) were not killed in 10 ppm of disinfectant I and 1 ppm of disinfectant II in water. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that clinical E. sakazakii (Cronobacter spp.) strains displayed 5to 10-fold higher resistance to disinfectants than environmental E. sakazakii (Cronobacter spp.) strains. Disinfectant II, containing quaternary ammonium compounds, was shown to be more potent in inactivating E. sakazakii (Cronobacter spp.) in water used to clean infant formula manufacturing equipment than disinfectant I.