Screening of antimicrobial activities of disinfectants and cleaning agentsagainst foodborne spoilage microbes

The antimicrobial activities of six disinfectants and cleaning agents again st five food and brewery spoilage microbes were studied using the 5-5-5 sus pension and a surface test simulating surface disinfection in actual use. T he tests were carried out using the lowest recommended concentrations. The surface test was performed both with and without organic soil for various e xposure times. In the suspension test, almost all the disinfectant and clea ning agents had adequate antimicrobial activity, except against Bacillus sp ores. The peroxide-based disinfectant and the isopropanol-based cleaning ag ent were both ineffective against Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In the surface test without soil the hypochlorite-based disinfectant was effective after a n exposure of 10 min against all the microbes tested. The isopropanol-based cleaning agent was effective against all the vegetative cells tested. In t he presence of soil, hypochlorite was effective against Listeria monocytoge nes and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In the test performed the lubricant which c ontained disinfectant had no antimicrobial activity against the surface-att ached contaminants tested. P. aeruginosa was the most sensitive test organi sm and the Bacillus spores were the most resistant towards the agents teste d.