Antimicrobial efficacy of gaseous chlorine dioxide against Salmonella enterica Typhimurium on grape tomato ( Lycopersicon esculentum )

Summary The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of gas level and treatment condition on antimicrobial efficacy of ClO 2 gas against Salmonella enterica Typhimurium on grape tomato ( Lycopersicon esculentum ). Grape tomatoes were dip‐inoculated with inoculum of S. enterica Typhimurium TISTR 292 ( ATCC 13311) (9.79 ± 0.39 log CFU  mL −1 ) and allowed to dry before treatments. The pre‐inoculated samples were exposed to 0.15–0.85 mg of ClO 2 gas, for up to 58 min. The treatments at 4 and 25 °C resulted in population reductions of S. enterica Typhimurium of up to 3.95 ± 0.22 and 7.37 ± 0.39 log CFU per fruit, respectively. The population reduction results were used to construct statistical models to predict efficacy of ClO 2 gas. The second‐order equations for treatments at 4 and 25 °C had R 2 of 0.87 and 0.95, respectively, and indicated that efficacy of ClO 2 gas was significantly influenced by ClO 2 gas level, exposure time and treatment temperature.