Novel disinfectants for fresh produce

Fresh produce such as fruit and vegetables are known carriers of pathogenic microorganisms that often lead to outbreaks of food borne illnesses and public health scares. During the processing of fresh produce strong sanitizers and disinfectants are often required to remove the microbiological load left behind by washing. While such sanitizers and disinfectants must be highly efficacious as an anti-microbial agent, at the same time they must be cost effective, environmentally friendly, non-hazardous to public health and have insignificant effect on the nutritional and organoleptic properties of the fresh produce. This paper reviews the efficacy of various disinfectants to reduce the microbial spoilage and to increase the shelf life of fresh produce without compromising the quality of the end product. Inactivation of microbes using various disinfectants and parameters governing for inactivation are detailed. This review identifies the safest disinfectants that inactive pathogens while maintaining the sensory quality of fresh produce.