Increased Resistance of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium and Escherichia coli O157:H7 to 222-Nanometer Krypton-Chlorine Excilamp Treatment by Acid Adaptation.

In this study, we examined the change in resistance of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and Escherichia coli O157:H7 to 222-nm krypton-chlorine (KrCl) excilamp treatment as influenced by acid adaptation and identified a mechanism of resistance change. In addition, we measured changes in apple juice quality indicators, such as color, total phenols, and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity, during treatment. Non-acid-adapted and acid-adapted pathogens were induced by growing the cells in tryptic soy broth without dextrose (TSB w/o D) at pH 7.3 and in TSB w/o D at pH 5.0 (adjusted with HCl), respectively. For the KrCl excilamp treatment, acid-adapted pathogens exhibited significantly (P < 0.05) higher D5d values, which indicate dosages required to achieve a 5-log reduction, than those for non-acid-adapted pathogens in both commercially clarified apple juice and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and the pathogens in the juice showed significantly (P < 0.05) higher D5d values than those for pathogens in PBS because of the UV-absorbing characteristics of apple juice. Through mechanism identification, it was found that the generation of lipid peroxidation in the cell membrane, inducing cell membrane destruction, was significantly (P < 0.05) lower in acid-adapted cells than in non-acid-adapted cells for the same amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated at the same dose because the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids (USFA/SFA) in the cell membrane was significantly (P < 0.05) decreased as a result of acid adaptation. Treated apple juice showed no significant (P > 0.05) difference in quality indicators compared to those of untreated controls during treatment at 1,773 mJ/cm2 IMPORTANCE There is a need for novel, mercury-free UV lamp technology to replace germicidal lamps containing harmful mercury, which are routinely utilized for UV pasteurization of apple juice. In addition, consideration of the changes in response to antimicrobial treatments that may occur when pathogens are adapted to the acid in an apple juice matrix is critical to the practical application of this technology. Based on this, an investigation using 222-nm KrCl excilamp technology, an attractive alternative to mercury lamps, was conducted. Our study demonstrated increased resistance to 222-nm KrCl excilamp treatment as pathogens adapted to acids, and this was due to changes in reactivity to ROS with changes in the fatty acid composition of the cell membrane. Despite increased resistance, the 222-nm KrCl excilamp achieved pathogen reductions of 5 log or more at laboratory scale without affecting apple juice quality. These results provide valuable baseline data for application of 222-nm KrCl excilamps in the apple juice industry.