Fate of <i>Escherichia coli</i> O157 Cells Inoculated into Lightly Pickled Chinese Cabbage during Processing, Storage and Incubation in Artificial Gastric Juice

Abstract

Fate of Escherichia coli O157 cells was evaluated when inoculated into each step after production of lightly pickled Chinese cabbage. The efficacy of surface sterilization by 100 mg/L of chlorine water for 10 min on raw leaves 6.0 log CFU/g was 2.2 log CFU/g reduction. No meaningful change of the population of E. coli O157 3.5 log CFU/g to 1.5 log MPN/g contaminated into 19 kinds of products was observed. These results indicated the difficulty of estimating the viable count of the cells between contaminated on farms and further processing and storage steps. The population of E. coli O157 3 log CFU/g to 1 log MPN/g inoculated into the Chinese cabbage products was reduced less than 0.6 log CFU/g after 2 h-incubation at 37 in artificial gastric juice. Prevention from initial contamination of E. coli O157 on the ingredients of Chinese cabbage products is important to reduce the risk of food poisoning because the reduction of the bacterial counts after processing and consumption are limited.