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Abstract
Sanitation of fruit packing houses is critical to prevent cross-contamination during post-harvest handling. Routine environmental sampling and microbiological evaluation are necessary to monitor microbial hotspots within a packing line. Waxer brushes were highly contaminated (Coliform Count:4.93±1.16 log CFU/cm2) among food contact surfaces tested. Further, novel photon-based interventions such as antimicrobial blue light (aBL; 405 nm) and long-range ultraviolet (222 nm) were utilized in inactivating foodborne pathogens on high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic surfaces. Upon aBL exposure, a 1.8 log CFU/cm2 reduction in L. monocytogenes, was achieved after 8 h of exposure on blue-colored coupons. A higher reduction of 3.26 log CFU/cm2 in L. monocytogenes population was achieved compared to S. enterica (1.01 log CFU/cm2) when exposed to UV-C (222 nm) for 8 h. Both aBL (405 nm) and far UV-C (222 nm) are non-thermal, sustainable, and cost-effective dry sanitation techniques that can potentially be deployed for sanitation purposes in fresh produce industries.