Food Microbiol. 2025 Aug;129:104756. doi: 10.1016/j.fm.2025.104756. Epub 2025 Feb 20.
ABSTRACT
Novel ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV-C LED at 279 nm) are being investigated for broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity in addition to traditional mercury-lamp 254 nm UV-C systems. The goals of this study were to determine the doses required for hepatitis A virus (a resilient foodborne virus) inactivation in phosphate buffered saline (PBS, pH = 7.2), apple juice (AJ, pH = 4), and coconut water (CW, pH = 5), when treated with traditional 254 nm UV-C compared to 279 nm UV-C LED. For each tested liquid, 500 μL of HAV (∼5 log PFU/mL) was mixed with 4.5 mL liquid within glass beakers and treated for 0-15 min with 254 nm UV-C (maximum dose of 33.89 mJ/cm2) or for 0-10 min with 279 nm UV-C LED (maximum dose of 7.03 mJ/cm2) with continuous stirring. Mixed model analysis of variance (SAS v 9.4) was used to statistically analyze the recovered viral counts of three replicates. HAV in PBS and CW showed significantly lower D10-values (dose required for a 1-log PFU inactivation) of 4.37 ± 0.61 and 5.59 ± 1.16 mJ/cm2 with 279 nm UV-C LED than 15.27 ± 2.01 and 10.46 ± 0.53 mJ/cm2 with 254 nm UV-C, respectively (p ≤ 0.05). However, D10-values for HAV in AJ of 4.02 ± 0.27 mJ/cm2 by 279 nm UV-C LED and 3.31 ± 0.61 mJ/cm2 by 254 nm UV-C were obtained. HAV showed the highest sensitivity to 254 nm UV-C treatments in AJ followed by CW and PBS. Overall, 279 nm UV-C LED systems show potential for HAV inactivation in the tested fluids without visual changes at the target doses, which warrants further investigation for scale-up operations.
PMID:40086994 | DOI:10.1016/j.fm.2025.104756
