Fig 1.
Log CFU reduction of E. coli, L. innocua, and S. enterica varying pulsing conditions, contact times, and concentrations of hydrogen peroxide.
Data presented as average of triplicate analysis with error bars representing standard deviation. Statistical differences from Tukey’s multiple comparisons test are presented as (ns) P > 0.05, * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, **** P < 0.0001.
Table 1.
Bacterial inactivation of E. coli, L. innocua, and S. enterica based on CFU determination.
Fig 2.
Comparison of inactivation using individual treatments and the combination H2O2/PEF treatment.
All data represents the average of triplicate analysis, error bars represent standard deviation. Statistical significance from Tukey’s multiple comparisons test; (ns) P > 0.05, * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, **** P < 0.0001a E. coli treatment conditions: 0.1% H2O2, 15 min contact time, split-dose PEF (500+500P). b L. innocua treatment conditions: 0.3% H2O2, 45 min contact time, split-dose PEF (500+500P). c S. enterica treatment conditions: 0.5% H2O2, 45 min contact time, split-dose PEF (500+500P).
Fig 3.
Change in log reductions of different bacteria after varying time delays between two trains of 500, 600 ns pulses at 21 kV/cm in the absence of H2O2.
The delay times between trains of PEF were selected to correlate with the contact times evaluated for combination treatments. A delay time of 0 represents a single train of 1000 pulses. Data is presented as the average of triplicate analysis with error bars representing standard deviation. Statistical differences from one-way ANOVA are presented as (ns) P > 0.05, * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, **** P < 0.0001.
Fig 4.
Difference in log CFU reductions in bacterial load between split-dose (SD) and single train (ST) exposures for bacteria.
Positive values represent enhanced log CFU reduction for split-dose PEF compared to single train exposures, negative values represent enhanced log CFU reduction for single train PEF exposures compared to split-dose exposures.
Fig 5.
Flowchart outlining the primary experimental procedures.