Microbial, chemical and physical changes in chill water treated with electrochemical method

A three-zone (anode, neutral, and cathode) electrochemical treatment chamber was designed and built to evaluate the inactivation of Salmonella typhimurium in poultry chill water. The chill water in the three-zone chamber containing similar to 10(6) CFU/mL S. typhimurium and 0.5% or 1.0% NaCl was treated at 15 or 25 mA/cm(2), and a temperature of 5-10C for up to 10 min. The Salmonella were inactivated within 0.5 to 4 min in the anode zone depending on the salt concentration and current density, slower inactivation rate in the cathode zone, and almost no inactivation in the neutral zone. The pH decreased to similar to 2 in anode zone, but increased to similar to 10 in the cathode zone. Temperature increased by 2-6.5C in the three zones depending on current density and salt concentration. The conductivity increased in the anode and cathode zones but little change in the neutral zone. The generated chlorine was proportional to the current density and the treatment time.