No more food poisoning, thanks to electrically charged water?

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Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 3:45pm

Suspected contamination by foodborne pathogens has led to recalls of ice cream, frozen spinach, and caramel apples, among a variety of other foods. Now, researchers have a new technique for “inactivating” pathogens like Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Listeria found on fruits and vegetables using nanosized, electrically charged water droplets, Food Safety News reports. In the study published in Environmental Science & Technology, the researchers sprayed prewashed organic grape tomatoes with the three strains of bacteria and then exposed them to the tiny, charged droplets. Afterward, they found that the bacteria had been reduced by between 80% and 98%. That leaves room for improvement as current regulations require a 99.999% elimination. Still, the researchers say, their method, known as electrospray, would be more environmentally friendly than current disinfection systems that use peroxides and other chlorine-based solutions.
 http://news.sciencemag.org