Effectiveness of UV Light

While Salmonella-contaminated fresh produce has been linked to multiple foodborne illness outbreaks, fresh produce receives little microbial intervention other than washing. An alternative strategy to reduce the pathogenic bacterial levels on fresh produce is to use UV light. UGA food scientists evaluated the effectiveness of UV-C light in reducing Salmonella contamination on tomatoes under different UV-C treatments and to determine if subsequent exposure to visible light would result in photoreactivation of injured Salmonella. Decontamination of fresh produce by UV light treatments could be a useful pathogen intervention method for use by small produce operations. UV-C dosages reduced the Salmonella population by 99 percent. There was no evidence of injury repair by photoreactivation by visible light treatments. Use of UV-C light may be a promising means to reduce Salmonella contamination on fresh tomatoes.