Inhibitory effect of enterocin KP in combination with sublethal factors on Escherichia coli O157:H7 or Salmonella Typhimurium in BHI broth and UHT milk

The effects of physical and chemical sublethal treatments on the antibacterial activity of enterocin KP produced by Enterococcus faecalis KP against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Typhimurium were investigated. Enterocin KP was not active against intact cells of E. coli O157:H7 or S. Typhimurium. However, the use of enterocin KP together with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (50 mM), sodium tripolyphosphate (50 mM), sublethal heating (60 °C for 10 min), cold shock (–20 °C for 2 h), or acid stress (mixture of 40% lactic acid, 16% propionic acid, 16% acetic acid) in BHI medium decreased the cell number of E. coli O157:H7 by 7.27, 6.28, 3.39, 3.06, 4.20 log and S. Typhimurium by 7.21, 6.20, 3.64, 3.38, 3.98 log cfu/mL, respectively. The combination of enterocin KP with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid decreased the cell number of E. coli O157:H7 in UHT milk to undetectable level, enterocin KP plus sodium tripolyphosphate or enterocin KP plus sublethal heating caused a reduction by 6.07 and 5.68 log cycles. The results of this study showed that enterocin KP could be applied as a biopreservative to inhibit E. coli O157:H7 and S. Typhimurium in combination with physical and food grade chemical hurdles.