Antimicrobial salt solutions for food safety applications

Abstract

Antimicrobial salt solutions for food safety and quality applications are disclosed. Because these solutions contain a substantial concentration of salt, they are adaptable to a variety of food-processing applications, such as for chilling brine applications, disinfecting meat baths/rinses, beef injection brines, poultry chill tanks, brines used in cheese manufacture, as a wash to killon hard-boiled eggs, and as a wash to disinfect produce, which can become contaminated withand other pathogenic bacteria in the field. These make use of concentrated salt solutions that depress the freezing point of the solution, to provide a low temperature bath or shower in which food products can be cooled. A preferred formulation contains between 25 ppm and 25,000 ppm surfactant, between 0.1% acid and 25% acid, and between 72.5% and 99.9% salt. This blend can then be dissolved in water to make a solution of between about 1% total solids by weight up to the saturation point, which can be used as an antimicrobial solution for food safety applications. An even more preferred range of solutions would be 17% by weight of between 0.3% and 6.0% citric acid, between 50 and 500 ppm SLS, and between 94% and 99.7% sodium chloride, and can be used in process temperatures of about −6.7° C.