In vitro germicide action of disinfectant products used in the food industry.

In vitro germicide action of disinfectant products used in the food industry. There is a wide offer of disinfectant products, for the food industry, available in the market, such as chlorine, iodine and quaternary ammonium compounds and their respective derivatives. However, new alternative products have emerged, for instance grapefruit seed extract, and peracetic and lactic acids. The present study was carried out in order to analyze in vitro the germicide effect, from the grapefruit seed extract (400 ppm), peracetic acid (2000 ppm) and lactic acid (20000 ppm) at the manufacturer recommended action time, and other additional times. The germicide effect was tested against microorganisms such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In each case, the death kinetic was determined through the evaluation of the germicide effect (%), specific death rate (t(-1)) and the decimal reduction time (min). From the evaluated products, the best germicidal effect at the manufacturer conditions was reached by peracetic acid (2000 ppm) at 1 min, which presented the lower decimal reduction times compared with the other tested microorganisms. Generally speaking, Gram positive microorganisms showed a greater sensibility to the disinfectant action.