Antimicrobial Efficacy of GS-2 on Reusable Food Packaging Materials for Specialty Crops

• Published in: Foods 2024-10, Vol.13 (21), p.3490
• Main Authors: Wong, Catherine W Y, Burton, Thomas, Carrera Montoya, Julio, Birje, Nupoor, Zhou, Xinyi, Salazar, Joelle K, Mackenzie, Jason M, Rau, Thomas F, Teplitski, Max, Zhang, Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ABS resins; Acrylonitrile; Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene; Agricultural industry; Ammonium; Antibacterial materials; Antimicrobial agents; Arginine; Aspergillus niger; Bacteria; Butadiene; Cardboard; Chemical reduction; Circular economy; Coatings; Crops; E coli; Effectiveness; Epidemics; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli O157:H7; Exports; Fatty acids; Food; Food contamination; Food contamination & poisoning; Food microbiology; Food packaging; Food safety; Foodborne pathogens; Fungi; Harvest; High density polyethylenes; Laws, regulations and rules; Listeria monocytogenes; Medical equipment and supplies industry; Medical test kit industry; Microbiology; Microorganisms; murine norovirus; Norovirus; Packaging; Packaging materials; Pathogens; Plastics; Polyethylene; Polypropylene; Potassium; Reagents; Regulation; Safety and security measures; Salmonella enterica; Saturated fatty acids; Specialty crops; Spoilage; Storage conditions; Styrene; Viruses
• ISSN: 2304-8158; 2304-8158
• DOI: 10.3390/foods13213490

The European Union (EU) regulations mandate 10% of all food packaging to be reusable by 2030. United States (U.S.) exporters of specialty crops face new challenges in ensuring microbiological food safety using reusable packaging. A novel antimicrobial formulation consisting of ammonium carboxylate salt of capric acid and L-arginine (GS-2) was recently developed as a spray coating chemical for food packaging materials. In this study, we evaluated the antimicrobial efficacy of GS-2 against microbial strains representing three foodborne bacterial pathogens ( O157:H7, , ), one fungal spoilage organism ( ), and one surrogate viral pathogen (murine norovirus) on three reusable plastic materials (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, high-density polyethylene, and polypropylene) and one cardboard packaging material, respectively. Different chemical concentrations, exposure times, and storage conditions were individually evaluated for the relative antimicrobial efficacies of GS-2 against these microorganisms. Our results showed that GS-2 was highly effective for inactivating bacterial pathogens on both plastic and cardboard surfaces. For instance, 3% GS-2 achieved a >5 log CFU/in reduction in . O157:H7, , and on tested plastic surfaces at an exposure time of 60 min. However, its efficacy against and murine norovirus was less optimal, resulting in a ≤1 log CFU/in reduction on all tested surfaces. Based on our study, GS-2 demonstrated a strong potential as an antibacterial coating reagent for reusable food packaging materials to minimize pathogen contamination and ensure the safety of the specialty crops.