Inactivation of Salmonella using ultrasound in combination with Litsea cubeba essential oil nanoemulsion and its bactericidal application on cherry tomatoes.

The presence of Salmonella in nature poses a significant and unacceptable threat to the human public health domain. In this study, the antibacterial effect and mechanism of ultrasound (US) combined with Litsea cubeba essential oil nanoemulsion (LEON) on Salmonella. LEON + US treatment has a significant bactericidal effect on Salmonella. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA) detection, N-phenyl-l-naphthylamine (NPN) uptake and nucleic acid release assays showed that LEON + US exacerbated cell membrane lipid peroxidation and increased the permeability of the cell membrane. The results of field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that LEON + US treatment was able to alter cell morphology. It can be observed by flow cytometry (FCM) that LEON + US treatment can cause cell apoptosis. In addition, bacterial counts of cherry tomatoes treated with LEON (0.08 μL/mL) + US (345 W/cm) for 9 min were reduced by 6.50 ± 0.20 log CFU/mL. This study demonstrates that LEON + US treatment can be an effective way to improve the safety of fruits and vegetables in the food industry.