Photoactivated ZnO nanoparticles destroy main food pathogens Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes ATCL3C 7644

Abstract

Food-borne diseases have been estimated to cause millions of hospitalizations and cost billions of dollars each year. It means that existing food safety technologies can not guarantee safe food. The aim of this study was to evaluate antimicrobial efficiency of photoactivated ZnO nanoparticles against food pathogens Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes ATC L3 C 7644. The results showed that ZnO NPs have slight effect on the viability of bacteria in the dark, whereas photoactivated ZnO NPs exhibit pronounced bactericidal activity. At certain experimental conditions Gram-negative bacteria E. coli and Gram-positive bacteria L. monocytogenes were killed to undetectable level. Summarizing, photoactivated ZnO NPs have potential to be effective antimicrobial tool and can be used to inactivate harmful and pathogenic microorganisms. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ct.61.3.2715