Development and Validation of an Evaporative, Low-Flammability, and Low-Moisture Antimicrobial Liquid for Dry Cleaning and Sanitization of Food Processing Equipment

Environmentally persistent organisms such as Salmonella spp. and Cronobacter spp. have caused several high-profile outbreaks associated with the consumption of low-moisture foods. Sanitary operations in dry food-processing environments are challenging as excess moisture elevates the risk of microbial harborage and transfer. In this work, the evaporation kinetics of selected polar and nonpolar solvents was characterized with dynamic vapor sorption. A low-moisture, volatile antimicrobial liquid was formulated using 3% v/v water-in-cyclomethicone emulsion as the carrier for 200 mM acetic acid, which had a closed-cup flashpoint of 80 °C and a rate of bacterial-killing by greater than 7 log CFU/coupon in 10 min at 22 °C against Salmonella and Cronobacter cocktails desiccated (33% ERH) on a stainless-steel surface. Hand-cleaning validation involving inoculated-and-equilibrated milk films suggested that decontamination of the underlying substratum required prior, extensive scrubbing. Collectively, the developed system showed potential as an alternative to alcohol-based agents for dry cleaning and sanitization.