# Application of Electrolyzed Water in the Food Industry: A Review
## 2 Application of Electrolyzed Water in the Food Industry
### Antimicrobial Properties of Electrolyzed Water
Totally natural, non-toxic, and completely safe for human use, electrolyzed water is already in use throughout many industries such as healthcare, food safety, and water treatment, as well as for general sanitation purposes. Hypochlorous acid is in fact naturally produced by white blood cells in mammals for healing and protective purposes. The application of electrically oxidized water constituting 50 mg/L or 100 mg/L Cl in tuna steak together with CO gas would be an effective method for improving the quality and freshness of meat and prolonging their refrigeration times. Researchers studied the effects of the electrical conductivity of water on the proliferation of _Femtella_ and _Euglena catenoidea_, and the results proved that the electrically oxidized water is an extremely effective tool for killing toxic algae and destroying toxicity [95]. EO water can be utilized for the disinfection of food processing plants. It was revealed that electrically oxidized water is an efficient method for removing foodborne pathogens from cutting boards. EO water (pH--2.53; electrically conductivity--1178 mV; available Cl--53.0 mg/L) can also cause a reduction in _Enterobacter_ and golden grapes on the surface of the glass, steel, glazed plates, stainless steel, non-woven plates, and glass porcelain surfaces. soaking the culture at different contact places in electrically oxidized water for 5 min under stirring 50 rpm can reduce the population of aerobic _E. coli_ and _Staphylococcus_ on a test surface to <1.0 CFU/cm\({}^{2}\). _Listeria_ is a food-borne and pathogenic bacterium that results in life-endangering listeriosis among high-risk groups [96]. Electrolyzed alkaline ionized water loses its potency fairly quickly, so it cannot be stored for long. Electrolysis machines can be (but are not necessarily) expensive. In some (but not all) instances, the electrolysis process needs to be monitored frequently for the correct potency. Outbreaks of Listeriosis disease are related to targeted foods, with the synthesis of the biofilm _Listeria_ at the food processing plant as a significant source of pollution. The _Listeria_ oriented biofilms have developed resistance against chlorine, acid anions, and tertiary diammonium sulphate, which are better suited to food processing surfaces and are clean and hygienic. An entire food manufacturing plant was studied against the proliferation of _Listeria_ oriented biofilm on the surface of steel and electrically oxidized water and inferred that EO water application for 300 s on the surface of stainless steel could reduce _Listeria monocytogenes_ from 1.89 CFU/cm\({}^{2}\) to below the detectable level 5.0 CFU/cm\({}^{2}\). Moreover, exposure to a 200 mg/L chlorine solution for 300 s can acquire similar results [73]. In the relevant study, the biofilm of _Listeria_ on the superficial layer of stainless steel was inactivated with electrically oxidized water. They also inferred that electrically oxidized water does not reduce the biofilm of _Listeria_. Via treatment with electrically oxidized water only, and with chemical purification, each sample reduces the living bacterial count in the biofilm by 4.1-5.3 log CFU (2 \(\times\) 5 cm), while the mutual application of ER water and electrically oxidized water can be further reduced by 0.25-1.3 per Log CFU sample of each strain. Stainless steel is the most frequently used biofilm for different contact surfaces of the food industry [70]. It was reported that electrically oxidized water (pH--2.53; electrical conductivity--1077 mV; available Cl--50 mg/L) and chemically altered water (pH--6.12; electrical conductivity--774 mV; available Cl--50 mg/L) had no adverse effects on stainless steel within one week. The different qualities of water and ethylene oxide towards provoking a reduction of bacteria in the pipes of a milking system were studied [97].